Love Me (Daryl Dixon Love Story)
by ReedusLove70
Summary: Your name is Megan, you're 18 years old. You hate your parents and they hate you, what happens when they leave you behind in the zombie apocalypse? You eventually join Ricks group and end up falling head over heels for Daryl Dixon!
1. Chapter 1

Your name is Megan

You are 18 years old

Your 5' 3"

You have straight black hair

You have blue eyes

Your only family is your parents but they hate you and you hate them.

You are absolutely boy crazy but don't have a boyfriend at the moment. All the guys you know think your really pretty though and you kinda let it get to your head.

Okay on to the interesting stuff:

A Zombie Apocalypse just happened due to a chemical spill. You and your parents were outside when the zombies made their first appearance. You were all three running for your lives when you tripped and fell. Yes, your parents saw you but did they give a crap? Um no... they left you there to die and the zombies were getting closer to you by the minute. You saw an empty car and struggled to your feet, you winced in pain as you got up, you must have rolled your ankle when you fell. You managed to get into the vacant car and shut the doors making sure they were all locked before the Zombies caught up to you. You looked around the car going through all of the compartments. You found a spare key and said a quiet thanks to Jesus.

Now having the key you turned the car on and began to drive off trying to get away from the zombies. You decided you would call them walkers because you just thought that would be better than calling them zombies. But yea you were just trying to get away from the walkers, you honestly had no idea where you was going or where would even be safe to go. You drove and drove until finally you came across a huge warehouse thar didn't have any walkers around it. You slowly drove the car up to it and got out. The door was locked tight. You ran your hands through your jet black hair and sighed, then you remembered something. Having Bo good, x-convict parents actually paid off for once. You went back to the car and luckily enough you found what you needed to unlock the door. You heard a click when you picked the lick so then you slowly opened the door, careful not to make too much noise. You looked around, the place and sure enough, yup the building was completely vacant. You sighed a sigh of relief and walked back to the door making sure to lock it again to keep any un-wanted guests out meaning walkers. You of course would help any people looking for shelter though. You wish there was a way to let people know they could come here for shelter... you reached your hand in your back pocket and pulled out a pocket knife. You had luckily found it in the car that you took to get away from the walkers. You found it when you were looking for the spare keys but accidentally found the knife instead first so you decided to take it thinking it would come in handy. It certainly did, You went out front again and used the knife to engrave, "Will provide shelter from Walkers Aka: Zombies." satisfied with your work you went back into the building making sure to re-lock it.


	2. Chapter 2

You had lived in the warehouse for quite a while... about 4 months? You were still alive though and that's all that mattered. In the past 4 months you lived in isolation from any other humans. You came out of the warehouse only for supplies like food and water, plates and cups. You could pretty much walk into anyones house to steal supplies if you were up to taking out some walkers. The warehouse though, was the only place you felt safe... The only place you were safe. Actually, you began to call it home.

You heard what sounded like several cars pulling up to your safe-haven. You cautiously looked out the window to see what was going on. You saw 2 cars a big camper thing and a motorcycle. You saw some people getting out of the vehicles and beginning to walk towards the warehouse. You ran downstairs as quick as you could to greet them and let them in. You opened the front door and ran over to the kinda large group. You hustled all of them into the warehouse and they went in without question... probably because a huge mob of walkers began to come out of the woods. You were all back inside before you were in any real danger though. You welcomed the people once inside and then bolted all the windows and doors making sure no walker could get in.

Living there by yourself for 4 whole months you had began taking furniture from vacant houses and bringing it to the warehouse with a pickup truck you had found on the street. Through that method you had successfully sat up the warehouse to make it comfortable. You led the people into one of the rooms that you had decorated. There was enough furniture for all of you to have somewhere to sit so you all sat and started talking.

There was a sheriff guy with dark hair and blue eyes that introduced himself as Rick. Rick had a wife and a son, his wife's name is Lori, and their son's name is Carl.  
There was an older man who introduces himself as Dale.  
There are two blonde sisters, the older one is Andrea and the younger one is Amy.  
There is also this Asian dude that introduces himself as Glenn.  
There are are five other people too,  
There is this one guy who looks kinda really strong who introduces himself as Shane.  
There's this other husband and wife couple, the wife's name is Carol and the husbands is Ed they have a little 12 year old girl named Sophia.  
Another strong looking black man introduces himself as T-dog. You thought out of all of them he seemed the least tense.  
There is another man you didn't even notice before standing over in the dark corner. He stepped into the light where you could see him better, you noticed he had a heavy looking crossbow swung over his shoulder, he spoke with a gruff red-neck accent, "My names Daryl Dixon."

You and your new guests sit around the warehouse now talking and getting to know eachother and then Rick speaks up.

Rick: "Well Megan... Would you like to go back to our camp with us? It's kinda out in the middle of no where, we just came back into town to look for any survivors."

You: "Well... I don't know I've been staying here for four months now..."

Rick: "Yea, I know especially since you took the time to fix this place up real nice like you did. It's just that the walkers are here now so your safety is at risk as long as you stay here now."

You ponder that statement for a moment, you thought that it made since and Rick was being very kind to invite you back to his camp. Plus you were getting pretty darned lonely for those four months since everyone you knew was most likely gone. You felt like you needed a new start, these people sitting here with you now seemed like really sweet really nice people, you felt like you could easily make friends with and be comfortable around each and everyone of them. Except for maybe Daryl, he seemed... kinda dangerous and more distant from the group than the others. You looked back at Rick.

You: "Yea, I guess I'll see back to camp with you guys... I could use the company, it could possibly keep me from going insane."

The group laughed at you and Daryl said sarcastically, "I've been with them awhil' they ain't helped me none."

You looked at Daryl catching a glimpse of his icy blue eyes, "Well maybe Im not as unstable as you."

With that comeback Daryl didn't seem to have a response he just kinda looked away slowly.

Rick changed the subject, "All right we can all head back to our camp as soon as the walkers clear out, we just have to lay low and stay quiet, maybe they will forget we're even here." The group nodded in agreement and decided to sleep in the warehouse for the night while waiting for the walkers to leave.


	3. Chapter 3

All you guys woke up around 7 or 8am the next morning so while everyone was helping themselves to the food you had brought to the warehouse, you looked out the window to check for walkers. There was none out there that you could see so so you returned to the group, addressing them, "The walkers have cleared out so after you guys finish eaten I think it would be best if we left."  
Rick looked up at you from his food, "Yea, in matter of fact, we might want to take our breakfast with us on the road... we never know when the walkers might come back."  
The group agreed with Rick and started packing up their food when Daryl interrupted, "I'd like ta say something'"  
You rolled your eyes at the redneck and muttered, "Of course you would..."  
Daryl turned and looked with his narrowed icy blue eyes before continuing, "I would like to know, how in this jacked up world am I supposed to eat while riding a motorcycle?"  
A hint of a smile crossed your face as you pictured the temperamental man trying to eat while riding his motorcycle with his food half blowing away. He turned his gaze back to you though and any trace still left of your smile disappeared.  
As Rick and the group started walking out the front door Rick added, "Well Daryl, guess you better hurry and finish that breakfast."  
Finally all of you were ready to go in a vehicle of some sort with Daryl leading the way on his motorcycle. You took a seat at the table and stared out the window as you looked at all the places you used to know. A tear rolled down your cheek and you felt a reassuring hand on your shoulder as someone sat down next to you.  
It was Shane and he tried to comfort you, "It's okay Megan, I know this is really hard on you leaving this place that you grew up in... but at least you have us now and if you ever need a friend, I'm sure anyone would be up for a chat..."  
You turned to Shane and smiled, "Thank you Shane, that really means a lot to me." Shane smiled and pulled you into him so that you could rest you head on his shoulder.  
Shane rubbed your shoulder comfortingly and continued, "And about Daryl, don't worry about him... he seems to always be mad about something so don't take it personally okay?"  
You smiled and looked up at Shane agreeing, "Ok." He gave your shoulder a final pat and sighed, gently getting up and walking to the back of the trailer. He had left you alone probably so you could have some time to just think. You crossed your arms on the table and laid your head down, managing to go to sleep. You woke up to the trailer travelling on bumpy ground. You looked out the window and saw little tents and a bonfire spot set up. You smiled to yourself, this must be their camp, it even looked kinda cozy.  
All of you got out of the cars and trailer and Daryl got off his motorcycle. You looked at him for a moment as you saw him roughly kick the kickstand up. You smiled to yourself as you thought, 'wow, that guy has got a temper. He finally walked over to join the group at the bonfire.  
You broke the silence speaking up, "So why do all of you leave camp to look for survivors?"  
Shane looked up at you from cutting a sharp point into a stone, "We just did it that once because at our last camp we left some people to guard and let's say the two of them got killed. So we had to move camps and we all were emotionally unbalanced so we all just decided to head out together. Next time someone needs to go out on a mission we should probably only take two or three people to make sure there is enough people to keep it safe and stay safe themselves back at camp." Shane looked around at the group like they hadn't discussed that idea yet but by looks of it, most people seemed to agree with him.  
Andrea came up to you speaking softly, "We've got some spare tents set up, would you like to choose one of them?" She seemed really nice so you answered a polite, "yes please." And followed her to the three spare ones. You ended up picking the one farthest to the right it was kinda big and plus it was close to someone elses tent so you would feel more safe. As Andrea walked away to give you room to get comfortable you thanked her and climbed inside your tent. It was a plain brown tent that would probably blend in during the night hours. It was really clean though so the people here had to be pretty considerate to have clean spare tents set up for people that they might find. Heck there was even a sleeping bag and pillow. You took your pocket knife out and slid it under the pillow so that if something happened when you first woke up you would have a weapon, not a very good weapon but one that might be able to buy you time if need be.  
You exited the tent and walked back over to join the group. You paused for a moment when you realized your spot had been taken and the only spot open was one right beside Daryl. "Great..." you muttered under your breath.  
You slowly walked over to him and sat down right beside him, not bothering to say anything. You just kinda looked at the other people in the group, trying to keep things as normal as possible. You could of sworn that Daryl was staring at you though cause you felt like the side of your face was burning from his icy cold blue gaze.

You all headed back to your tents that night after the fire died. You were looking down while walking back to your tent, you were super tired and thought you could fall asleep right where you were. You bumped into someone and looked up.

Daryl looked down at you with his menacing icy blue eyes.

You looked down trying not to let him discover you were blushing a bit. You said to him with a comeback of his icy stare, "Excuse me, but your kinda in my way."

You went to walk around Daryl but he moved, blocking you from going any further.

You looked up at him and said, "Could you please move? I'm really tired."

He narrowed his eyes at you even more giving him a more intimidating look as he said, "You stay outa my way, ya hear me girl?"

You gulped and nodded a little bit nervous now. You thought that his tough guy personality and looks made him kinda sexy. You shook those thoughts out of your mind and walked away from him and into your tent.

Despite how tired you were you couldn't get to sleep... instead you laid awake for a while playing with your pocket knife. You thought a little bit about Daryl, you swear he was the sexiest guy you had ever met and he was 27 years old which was 9 years older than you. You sighed and threw your knife with blade out into the air, you caught it easily by the handle. You were very skilled at knife throwing it was something you practiced a lot. You don't know how or when you fell asleep but you did. You woke up to someone knocking on the supports of your tent. At first you were scared it was a walker so you called out, "Is someone out there?" The person answered, "Yea, Megan it's Andrea... we're all waiting for you to wake up."

You hurried out of your sleeping bag and came outside, you said, "Sorry, Im bad about over sleeping, plus I couldn't even get to sleep last night."

Andrea smiled kindly at you in understanding, "Okay what were you thinking about?"

You laughed, that's the typical question for someone to ask when they knew someone else couldn't get to sleep. Thoughts of Daryl rushed back to your mind and you couldn't help but smile.

Andrea laughed at you and asked, "Its about a guy isn't it?"

You nodded slightly and Andrea laughed again and whispered to you, "Its okay we can talk about him later." You smiled at Andreas kindness and then walked over to the group with her.

Carol, Lori and Amy came and sat by you. Carol addressed to you, "Megan would you like to help us ladies with the laundry this morning? The lake is just up the hill a ways." You nodded and said, "Yea, I will it should keep me from falling back to sleep." The group laughed at you and the five of you started walking over to the creek. As you walked away with them, you looked back behind you and can't help but notice Daryl's icy blue eyes staring at you, your eyes meet and then you quickly turn away and catch up with your group at the tip of the hill.

Once you reach the creek you all sit dow some dirty laundry and get to work. Amy looks at her sister and whispers something to her. Andrea laughs and says to Amy, "Haha shut up, I do not!" then while laughing still Andrea turns to you, "Well Megan, it's just us girls up here so why don't you tell us who the man is that your crushing on."

Carol turns to you and teases, "Aww you have a crush?!"

You blush a little embarrassed, "Yea, I have a crush..."

Amy looks at you excitedly, "On who? On who? Tell us!"

You laughed at Amy and teased the group, "Well, I don't know..."

The group all starts chanting at you in harmony, "Tell us! Tell us! Tell us! Tell us!"

You laughed at your friends and agreed, "Alright, alright I'll tell you. Just don't be telling anyone else."

They all calm down and nod their heads waiting for you to let the cat out of the bag.

You smiled and said, "I'm trusting you guys... Okay, here it goes..." You accidentally got to exited so you blurted it out but not loud enough for the people back at camp to hear you, "Its Daryl!" You started blushing really bad so you hid your face in your hands. Then you started cracking up out of embarrassment.

The other girls joined you and Andrea said in between laughs, "Are you serious?" then she started cracking up even harder.

Lori calmed herself and asked, "Does he know?"

You still laughed and shrugged, "I don't know, I think if he did I would be dead by now."

Lori kinda laughed still.

Andrea kept laughing and then calmed herself down and looked at you, "Dont get me wrong I do think that Daryl is like really good looking... kinda sexy even, but he is really kinda unpredictable. He can be a sweetheart then he can be a total butthead."

The use of the word butthead caused all of you to start laughing even harder. Then Carol put a hand on your shoulder, "Your a really sweet girl, Megan I wish you best of luck with Daryl."

You smiled and thanked her kindly. You decided to yell them about how Daryl acted the night before. You said, "Last night I ran into Daryl and he blocked me from going into my tent and then gave me a dirty look and said for me to stay away from him."

Andrea looked at you and kinda laughed again, "Ya good luck with that man sweetie."

The subject was changed and somehow you were all laughing uncontrollably.

Then you all heard a voice coming from behind you, you turned around to see Ed. He was steaming with rage and yelled, "Whats so funny about doing laundry?"

Carol tried to speak up, "Nothing we're just talking while doing your laundry."

Ed snorted in disgust and took a step towards her, "You need to do less talking more working this is taking you all way to long, there's five of you common move faster! And Carol your coming back to the tent with me."

Carol got up nervously and started to walk towards her husband. Ed grabbed her by the arm and you spoke up, as Ed raised his hand to hit Carol, "Ed don't you lay a hand on her!" The other women gasped and joined in at you yelling at Ed.

Ed slapped Carol in her face and then you had enough. You went running at Ed and jumped on his back trying to choke him. He swung his arm around knocking you to the ground. You found a rock and stood up weakly. Quickly you swung your hand around and hit him just above his eye. He was bleeding badly but then he punched you right on your left jawbone.

You were conscious but in too much pain to get up at the moment. You could see all the woman yelling and screaming at Ed. He was yelling back just as much though. Andrea came over to you. She talked to you quietly and asked, "Oh my gosh Megan! Are you ok?" You forced a smile and nodded your head, "Go help Carol." Andrea hesitated and then went back over to Carol who was now sitting on the ground crying.

Your vision was getting kinda blurt so you figured you were about to pass out but you could still make out Daryl running up the hill. Gosh you thought to yourself, he's quick even with his crossbow over his shoulder. He ran up to the woman and the first question put of his mouth was, "Where is Megan?"

Amy answered him, "Shes over there laying down, Ed punched her and I think she might have passed out."

You weren't passed out, just to weak to speak at the moment.

Amy then said to Daryl, "Ed's been up here beating on Carol, Megan tried to make him stop but he just knocked her down."

You could hear Daryl getting mad now, you opened your eyes to see him taking a step towards Ed. Daryl yelled, "I could kill you with my crossbow right now!"

He handed Lori his crossbow and punched Ed in the face. Ed hit Daryl back but he was only down for a split second. When he got up he kicked Ed in the back of his knee causing him to fall to the ground. Daryl kicked him and spat on him while he was down. But then Carol started yelling, "Daryl, stop your gonna kill him!"

Daryl backed off slowly and then took his crossbow from Lori. As Ed struggled to get up Daryl knelt down beside him hissing into his ear, "I swear if you ever lay a hand on ANY of these women again I will kill you!"

Daryl stood back up and swung his crossbow back over his shoulder.

He came up to you to see if you could get up. You nodded slowly and he slowly extended his hand to offer you help up. You took his offer and grabbed his hand. He slowly pulled you to your feet and then you walked back to camp together.


	4. Chapter 4

You must have blacked out on your way back to camp with Daryl because you woke up in his tent. You looked around and saw him sitting in a corner of the tent away from you. You sat up slowly and turned around to face him. He looked you right in the eyes and sarcastically said, "Morning sleeping beauty." He laughed kinda to himself like something he said was funny.

You rolled your eyes and tried to cool your temper, "Morning Daryl... And what am I doing in your tent?"

Daryl kept his narrowed gaze locked with yours, "Well after Ed hit ya' you walked back to camp with me and blacked out along the way."

You rolled your eyes at the redneck and told him, "So that gave you the right to bring me into your tent?"

Daryl spat an attitude right back at you, "I didn't say that you know what? Just get outta my tent, get outta here woman!"

You didn't take your gaze off him until he said that, Kinda hurt you turned real fast. It hurt to move that fast after your incident with Ed but you ignored the pain not wanting Daryl to think your weak and you left the tent.

Daryl seeing that you left the tent ran his hands through his hair and sighed. He had grown up basically raising himself, His dad was a drunk along with his mom and his brother stayed in juvie.

He had a heart of gold, he really did but sometimes he wasn't good at expressing his emotions. He wasn't used to being treated kindly. Sometimes it didn't take much to throw him off. When someone was kind to him sometimes he found himself distancing himself from them in fear they would betray him... He had trust issues.

He felt bad for snapping back at Megan but she had yelled at him for bringing her back to his tent instead of her own. He kinda understood in a way. He really wished that he hadn't yelled back but he couldn't take it back it had already been said. The damage was done and Daryl felt like apologizing was a sign of weakness.

Megan walked over to the trailer and found Sophia sitting inside eating a fruit snack. You almost started crying. It was almost like old times. A little girl was eating a fruit snack like she had no care in the world. Oh how you missed the world being at a comfortable peace. You sat down beside the 12 year old little girl and rested your head in your hands sighing.

Sophia turned to you with a kind smile and offered you a fruit snack. You smiled at the little girl and took the fruit snack she offered you, "Thank you." you said kindly as you popped it into your mouth.

Sophia kept looking at you as you chewed the fruit snack she said quietly, "I know Megan."

You turned to her again and swallowed the fruit snack surprised at the little girls sudden words, "What do you know Sophia?"

Sophia smiled and laughed slightly, "I know you dig Daryl."

You paused for a moment not knowing what to say, "I really don't even know if I do Sophia, it's so complicated, one minute I do like Daryl, then it's like the next moment and I hate his guts."

Sophia laughed and left the table muttering under her breath, "Grown ups, so confusing." The little girl left the trailer and you remained at the table, cracking up so hard your sides hurt.

As you exited the trailer you were about to go ask Rick what you could do to help today. As you started to walk towards him you saw Daryl standing there beside the Sheriff with his crossbow swung over his shoulder. You continued to walk up to the two men and was standing right beside them when you heard Daryl tell Rick, "Hey listen man, I'm bout to go hunting for the group, is there anyone you can spare right now?"

You knew this could be the chance you needed to make things right with Daryl so you spoke up, "I'll go with him Rick, I don't have anything better to do."

The Sheriff gave a nod of approval and said, "Alright... ya you could be of use in the hunting field with the skill you have with a knife."

Daryl looked at you in wonder and asked in his sexy country accent, "Ya skilled with a knife girl?"

You nodded and kinda blushed a bit looking at the ground, "Kinda, sorta..."

Daryl pulled a knife out of a belt loop in his pants and handed it to you. You had seen Daryl walking around with that exact knife attached to one of his belt loops several times around camp, you never failed to notice how sexy he looked carrying that knife around like that. He said to you, "Lets see what ya got girl." He pointed to a giant oak tree about 15 yards away, "See if you can hit that tree from here."

You smiled and said confidently, "No problem." You sized the tree up for a moment and then took your arm back and with all the power you had, you threw the knife forwards. As it sliced through the air effortlessly, the air around it made a whistling sound. The knife flew towards the tree and with a satisfying cracking sound made it's way deeply into the bark of the huge oak tree that had served as your target. Smiling with satisfaction you turned to Daryl and questioned him, "Satisfied?"

Both Daryl and Rick hadn't yet taken their gazes of the knife you threw with such success into that tree. Finally Daryl turned around to face you with a faint smile tracing his lips, "Heck ya, I'm satisfied... seems to me like I just found myself one heck of a hunting partner."

You smiled and met Daryl's gaze, "Told ya so."

Rick finally deciding to turn his attention back to you said, "Well Megan, looks like your on hunting patrol." Rick gave his sweet kind smile and you smiled back as you and Daryl walked into the woods together.

You passed the oak tree that now held Daryl's knife, you grabbed it and yanked it out of the tree effortlessly as you walked by. Daryl was walking in front of you so he didn't see your impressive move... you wished he had though. You sighed as your feelings for Daryl came rushing back, you didn't mean to have these feelings for him they just kind of... Came naturally.

You were about to call out to Daryl when he turned to you and put his finger up to his lips signalling to you to be quiet. Daryl then pointed towards the left of you guys and you saw a flock of pigeons had landed in a small clearing of the woods. You looked at him and he signaled you to throw the knife.

You threw it at the flock of birds and managed to hit the one you singled out as your target right in it's chest, the bird was dead in an instant and felt no pain.

As the rest of the flock began to take off into the air, Daryl shot a pigeon from the sky with his crossbow sending it right to the ground. His arrow had hit the bird right in the center of it's eye, again a painless and instant kill.

You smiled at Daryl and complemented him, "Nice kill."

Daryl smiled back at you and gave what was supposed to be a complement, "You didn't do bad for a girl."

You smiled back at him knowing that he was trying to make an effort. You walked over to the bits you killed and looked it over to make sure it was in good condition. And it was a perfectly healthy bird before you killed it.

You picked it up, removing Daryl's knife from it's chest.

You walked over to Daryl and informed him, "Its a perfectly good bird."

Daryl responded to you, "Yea, so is the one I took down." He removed his arrow from the bird and loaded it back into his crossbow. You handed him back his knife and he slipped it into his belt loop.

You smiled to yourself, at how sexy that was.

On the walk back you stopped Daryl and thanked him, "Hey, Daryl I didn't get the chance to thank you for sticking up for me to Ed and taking care of me when I blacked out. So... thank you." You smiled at him.

Daryl looked away from you for a second and you could just hear him say, "You're welcome."

You and Daryl continued your walk back to camp in silence, then Daryl decided to ask you something, "So how old are ya Magan?"

You was surprised by his unexpected random question but answered it anyways, "I'm 18... How old are you?"

You already knew that he was 27 because you had asked Andrea earlier and she told you. You just asked Daryl to make conversation with him.

After a moment Daryl answered you, "I'm 27, I turned 27 the day the world ended."

You paused for a moment and then tried to comfort him, "I'm sorry this had to happen on your birthday."

Daryl looked up at you and met your gaze, "Yea, you should be."

You wanted to throw an attitude right back at Daryl for his rude comment but stopped yourself, "Daryl, why did you want to know how old I am?"

The sexy man kind of laughed as he ran his hands through his hair, he looked away and said, "None of your business girl, your only 18 anyway."

With that you decided to get an attitude back at him, "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

Daryl was walking away from you now heading back towards camp at a faster pace. You yelled over at him, "I'm gonna need an explanation!"

You headed after him towards camp a million thoughts racing through your mind. You really wanted to know what he meant by those words. Maybe you shoulda just asked him right there why he was so sexy. You smiled to yourself and tried to shake the thought out of your head. It proved almost impossible.

You returned to camp and gave the pigeon you caught to Rick so he could have someone cook it for dinner. You decided you would help out around camp so you addressed Rick about it.

You: "Hey Rick, is there anything else I can to around camp?"

Rick: "Um... ya the girls are up at the stream doing some laundry if you wanna help them."

You: *nodded* "Yea I'll head up there right now." you paused for a moment, "Did you happen to notice where Daryl went?"

Rick: *shakes head* "No, Im sorry Megan, he gave me this pigeon and then just took off."

You: *sighed* "Its okay."

You took off up the hill and to the stream. There you found Andrea, Amy, Carol, and Lori doing the laundry, they were laughing having a good time. Ed was still recovering in his tent from Daryl beating the crap out of him. So Ed was no longer a threat to Carol or anyone.

As you came closer to your friends you could make out what they were saying.

Lori: "And so Carl was laying in between me and Rick in the tent cause he was scared. I swear the only one in our tent that got some sleep was little Carl. He wouldn't sit still in his sleep and kept throwing his arms and legs across us."

At that point everyone in the group was cracking up.

Andrea: *Laid her hand on Lori's shoulder* "So that's why you're in a bad mood today."

Everyone cracked up in the group even harder and you came over to them laughing.

You: "I heard the story Lori and I have to say, he sounds like one little handful."

The group laughed more.

Lori: *nodded* "Oh yea he is."

Andrea: *Turned her attention to you and smiled* "So Megan, what's going on with Daryl?"

You: *blushed a bit* "Nothing really, he just confuses me..."

Amy: *laughs* "That's a typical man for you sweetheart."

You: *join in laughing*

Lori: "Yea I saw you two disappear into the woods together."

You: "Yea, we were hunting but when we got back to camp, he took off and now I don't know where he went."

Carol: *Points back at a small hill by the woods near camp* "He sometimes goes up there, at least that's where he keeps his stuff."

You: *nodded* "Thanks Carol, I appreciate it."

Carol: "you're very welcome."

Andrea: "I saw you hit that tree dead on with that knife, looks like you have some talent."

You: *Smile* "Well thank you... I don't know if I would call it talent though, I've just had a lot of practice."

You all hear a mans voice and see Shane coming up the hill.

Shane: "Hey ladies, you might wanna pack the clothes up and head back to camp, we're all heading back to the highway to see if we can find anything of use."

Shane starts back down the hill. You, Andrea, Amy, Carol and Lori all grab a bundle of clothes and head back to camp.

When you get there you all climb into the trailer and take off back towards the highway. Daryl leads the way back on his motorcycle. You sigh staring after him.

Shane looks at you, hearing you sigh while looking at Daryl, "You have the hots for Daryl, do ya?"

The question startled you, you hadn't even been aware of Shane sitting by you, "No, I don't."

Shane gave you a suspicious look, "Then why are you staring at him and sighing.?"

You rolled your eyes at the former Deputy, "I'm not staring at Daryl, I'm staring out the window because I'm bored and sighing because I can't believe all of this chaos."

Seeming convinced patted you on the back and talked to you comfortingly, "Dont worry we will all get through this together."

You arrived at the highway soon.

Rick stood up in the trailer and announced the groups that would go look for useful items.

"Okay, Shane with me, Megan with Daryl, Carol with Lori and Sophia, Amy and Andrea. The rest of you stay in the trailer in case help is needed."

Everyone nodded and groups set off to search for things that might be useful. You found Daryl standing beside his motorcycle waiting for the other people. You went up to him and informed him, "Rick said for us to look together."

Daryl nodded and you two started to go off to look further up the highway. You turned around because you heard footsteps behind you, it was only Lori, Carol and Sophia. Carol spoke up, "Rick sent us up to help you go through the cars up here since there isn't many cars down there." She pointed down towards the trailer.

You nodded and smiled, "Its fine we definitely could use the help."

You noticed Daryl looking even further up ahead, he looked concerned.

You followed his gaze and saw a decent sized group of walkers coming right at you. Daryl turned to You, Carol, Sophia and Lori, "I need all you girls to find a car and get under it, now!"

You hesitated a moment and asked Daryl, "How about you?"

Daryl spat on the road and said, "I'm gonna go take out these no good for nothing walkers."

You laid your hand on his shoulder and felt him tense up, you said to him, "Let me go with you, you can't take them put all by yourself."

Daryl jerked out from under your hand and spun around to face you. He aimed his crossbow at you and narrowed his eyes then yelled at you, "I said get under the car, gosh woman!"

You got under the car slowly not taking your eyes off him, "Daryl, there's to many you can't kill them all."

He turned to you again and muttered in a flat tone, "Then I'll die trying."

You remained under the car you were across the street from Carol, Sophia and Lori. Sophia looked across the street at you with a terrified look on her face.

You reached into your back pocket and pulled out a gun that you had found in one of the cars you and Daryl looked in, luckily for you it was loaded.

You crawled out from under the car and started further up the highway where Daryl and the zombies were. You could see Daryl standing off to the side of them shooting and successfully killing the walkers with his crossbow.

You started taking the walkers out that were around you seeing that Daryl was having no problem protecting himself. After you took out your nearest threats you looked back to where you last saw Daryl only he wasn't there.

You flipped out remembering what he last said to you, 'He'll die trying!" With a new rage and fear you shot down all the rest of the walkers. You looked around again, still no Daryl. You ran back to where Sophia, Carol and Lori were, you looked under the car but they weren't there.

You ran your hands through your hair and sighed, 'where could they be?'

You ran back to the trailer and saw everyone hooking over the edge of the road. Carol was crying and Lori was hugging her trying to calm her down.

Then you put the pieces together. You thought to yourself, oh no! Not Sophia! You went up to Dale and asked him, "Dale, do you know what happened?"

The older man nodded sadly, "Sophia was spotted under a car by a walker and it chased her out into the woods."

You gasped, "Oh no, do you think she is okay?"

Dale looked at the ground, "I'm really not sure Megan, but hopes are high we got Rick out looking for her."

You joined the group looking over into the woods. You saw Rick as he made his way through the trees, without Sophia.

Carol yelled out to the sheriff, "Where's Sophia?! Where's my baby?!"

Rick came back to the road and explained, "There was still a walker after her so I had to distract it. I showed her a safe place to stay until I got back and explained to her how to get back if I didn't return. When I got back to get her, she was gone."

Carol looked shocked, "How dare you leave my baby all alone you there with those... those monsters?! You need to go back and look for her!"

Rick tried to reason with the distressed mother, "Its too late Carol, we need to go back to camp and then we can come back here and look again fort thing in the morning."

Between sobs Carol agreed and went back to the trailer. You were a nervous wreck not knowing where Daryl was or what happened to him. Finally you asked, "Has anyone seen Daryl?"

Everyone shook their heads and Amy turned to you, "I thought he was with you?" You shook your head and said, "No, he was trying to fiend of the walkers from making it to the group."

You heard someone yelling and looked up the road to see Daryl running towards you. A smile of relief came over your face and you ran up to him, almost in tears. "Daryl! I thought you were gone!"

Daryl smirked and shook his head at you, "Nah, those Zombies were getting to close to me and I had to bail. I climbed up into a tree and shot them down from there. Then I heard screaming and saw Sophia running from a walker. I tried to track her down but I lost her trail. I decided she might have made it back to the trailer which took me a long time to find my way back to. And now I'm here. Is that little girl back yet?"

You shook your head and looked at the ground, "No... she- she didn't make it back."

You tried to change the subject you asked Daryl, "Are you bit or scratched?"

Daryl shook his head, "No way, none of those useless walkers could even touch me."

You and him laughed a bit and then Daryl returned to serious mode. "I'm gonna find that little girl and she is gonna be just fine."

With that Daryl got in his Motorcycle and you got in the trailer with the rest of the group. Daryl lead the way back to camp.


	5. Chapter 5

All of you soon arrived back at camp and got out of the trailer. You all walked over to the Bon-fire spot and Daryl drove his motorcycle up the hill to where he kept his personal stash of stuff. He parked the motorcycle at the top of the hill and got off. Then he walked back down to the group to join in at the bonfire.

When he met up with you guys, he quietly took a seat next to you. You felt everyone's gaze drift to you and Daryl. It was a good thing it was dark out because you could feel yourself blushing a bit.

You tried to take the awkwardness out of the moment, "So, Rick you said something about a laboratory that's working on a cure for the walker mess..."

Rick looked at you, "Yea, I thought the CDC might be a safe place to go, it's a while away though and we need to find Sophia first."

You nodded, "Yea, I know."

Daryl spoke up, "I'm gonna find that little girl and she's gonna be just fine."

You smiled at him and whispered, "I know you will."

It was getting darker by the minute, how late it was was unknown. Shane made a suggestion, "How about we all go back to our tents and get some sleep. When we all get up in the morning some of us can head back to the Highway and continue our search for Sophia."

Everyone agreed and began to go back to their tents. You were heading back to your tent when someone grabbed your arm. You turned around to see 27 year old Daryl Dixon.

He caught you by surprise but you quickly calmed down. It was so dark but you could still make out his figure and icy blue eyes.

He leaned over you you and whispered into your right ear, "Come to my tent tonight? I think I need some company..."

You thought for a moment before replying, "...Okay but if you try anything, I swear I'll kill you."

Daryl smirked at you, "I wasn't even thinking about it."

You smiled at him and kind of laughed, "Okay, I believe you."

You both stood there for a moment to make sure that everyone had gone into their tents. You and Daryl walked back to his tent together which was right by your tent. You went in while you waited for him to zip the tent up to keep both of you safe.

He came over to you and climbed inside his sleeping bag. Trying to be polite he scooted over to make room for you in the sleeping bag. He said to you, "... Um... there's room for you in here if you would like to sleep in here with me."

You swallowed a little fear that was slowly building up inside of you and then you crawled over to Daryl and slipped into the sleeping bag beside him. You turned to face him, "Thank you Daryl."

Daryl smirked a bit and just shook it off as nothing. You expected for him to put his muscular protective arms around you, but he didn't. Instead he asked you something, "Can I tell you something Megan?"

You were a bit surprised by this question, "Yea, what do you want to tell me?"

Daryl paused for a moment, "I just want to let a secret that I've been keeping off my shoulders."

You nodded, "Sure anything."

Daryl swallowed and ran his hands through his hair, "Okay here it goes, as a little boy I was abused by my parents because they were both drunks and hung up on drugs. Well they hit me... a lot. My brother Merle was no better, he abused me too and taunted me, made fun of my. Made me feel as low as possible. Well Merle was in Juvie a lot when I was young so I didn't even get to see him all that much. But when I did, it wasn't good. So one day, I got tiered of all this constant abuse so I spoke up against my father. He got ticked off at me and threw me into his car and drove me out into the woods away from the house. He just kicked me out of the car and left me in the woods to die. I was probably 13 at the time. I was lost in the woods for nine days, I had to take care of myself. Finally I made it home and made myself a sandwich. Then when the apocalypse hit I left the house in search of any survivors. Then I found Ricks group. I'm happy I found them. Yes I would be able to live fine on my own but Ricks group had what I desperately need and needed, human contact, people I may be able to really trust... friends."

Once Daryl finished with his story you were just staring into his now soft blue eyes. You were shocked to see that the tough redneck Daryl Dixon had had such a rough past. You could only think of one thing to say to him and so you said it, "Daryl, your amazing..."

Daryl acted like he didn't know what to to. He didn't thank you or compliment you back. Instead he narrowed his eyes slightly looking at you he said, "You better not tell anyone about this."

You asked him, "That's an amazing story... why can't I tell anyone?"

Daryl sighed almost sounding irritated with you, "I don't want anyone else to know because I don't want anyone to feel bad for me... your the first one I told, you better not act sorry either."

You really didn't understand his reasoning all you knew was he had asked you not to tell and not to feel bad for him. You snuggled closer to him affectionately. Once he felt your body against his though he pushed you away from him.

While pushing you away he said, "Stay on your side of the sleeping bag and don't touch me."

A little hurt you just whispered to him, "Fine." then you curled up with yourself and went to sleep.

The next day you woke up to find Daryl laying next to you but he was as far away from you as he could get within the sleeping bag. Your feelings were hurt a bit. You looked at him for a moment wondering if you should wake him up. You decided not to and you left his tent. Everyone was talking gathered by the trailer. This was your time to go into your tent then come join them at the trailer to make it look like you slept in your own tent. You did so and walked over to the group.

You were hugged by Glenn and the rest of the group as they told you good morning. You heard Rick ask, "Where's Daryl? Is he still asleep?"

You didn't want to act like you knew before so you casually volunteered to go check on him. "Do you want me to go check on him?"

Rick nodded, "Would you please Megan?" You told the sheriff that you would go get him and then you headed back towards Daryl's tent.

You knocked on the metal support bar on his tent. You heard Daryl inside, he looked out the window and saw you, "Ugh... come in." you rolled your eyes at his seeming reluctance to greet you.

You walked into his tent which he at least opened for you. When in you saw that Daryl was shirtless. You blushed a bit embarrassed. It was SOO hard to keep your eyes off his perfect body. You decided to break the awkward silence, "Nice tattoos..." you then looked down at the ground again. You were blushing even harder. He so knew you were checking him put.

When you looked back up you saw that he was putting on a shirt. He responded to your compliment after a minute, "You like my tattoos, huh?"

You kept a straight face somehow, "Yea, there pretty cool..."

Daryl gave his cocky but sexy half-smirk, "Well maybe later I can show you each and every one of them." He was obviously trying to make you blush and it worked.

You laughed at Daryl and changed the subject, "everyone's waiting for you at the trailer."

Daryl nodded, "Ok, go on without me, I'll be there in a moment."

You left the tent and went back to the group as you walked up to them you announced, "He's coming he was just getting ready."

Daryl walked out of his tent and up yo you guys, "Morning are we gonna look for that little girl?" Asked Daryl.

Rick nodded, "Yea, we're about to head back to the Highway soon, we were just waiting for you to wake up." Rick cleared his throat and continued. "We don't need everyone to go, but Me, Shane and Carl will be a group. Daryl, Megan, Lori, Carol and Andrea will be another group. Everyone else stay here and guard camp."

Everyone who was told they are helping look for Sophia got in the trailer except for you and Daryl, you both rode his motorcycle.

Sooner rather than later you all arrived at the highway and got together with your groups.

Lori, Carol and Andrea met up with you and Daryl and all of you set off in the opposite direction of Rick, Shane and Carl.

You and your group were walking through the woods looking for any signs that little Sophia might have been there. You all came across a tent.

Carol spoke up, "Does anyone think that she could be staying in that tent?"

Daryl stared at the tent while talking to Carol, "Just call out to her real soft Carol, if she is in there she would want to hear your voice."

Carol nodded and slowly approached the tent calling out to Sophia softly, "Sophia? Sophia honey...? Sophia it's mommy."

There was no response so Daryl went into the tent and looked around. He came back out and shook his head, "Someone committed suicide in there."

Carol looked upset and tried to renew hope to the group, "Lets just keep looking, she couldn't have gone far."

You started to look around again when you heard a gunshot.

Carol froze in her tracks and asked the group, "Did any of you hear that gunshot?"

Everyone in the group nodded and Andrea tried think of a logical explanation, "I'm sure Rick or Shane were just taking out a walker, no biggie."

Lori shook her head, "It was only one shot meaning one walker. neither Rick or Shane would be a fool enough to risk a shot on a single walker."

Now that you thought of it, Lori's explanation made since.

Daryl calmed everyone down, "I'm sure it's all fine whatever it was Rick and Shane can deal with if it even had anything to do with them. Now let's keep looking for that little girl."

All of you kept wandering in the woods and Lori went ahead of the group. Then there was screaming. A walker had grabbed ahold of Lori's leg and was about to bite her when a young woman came in on a horse, chopping the walkers head off with a machete just in time to save Lori.

Your group just stared at her amazed at her timing.

The woman pulled her horse to a halt and asked, "Lori Grimes? Where's Lori Grimes?"

Lori spoke up, "I'm right here."

The woman looked at Lori and said, "I'm Maggie, Rick sent me to come find you, your sons been shot and his conditions critical. Get on the horse so I can take you to him."

Lori quickly climbed on the horse but Daryl tried to stop her, "Lori we don't know this woman, you can't just get on that horse."

Lori looked at Daryl and had a point, "Rick sent her, she knows his name."

Maggie turned to Daryl and told him some directions on how to get to the farm.

Lori then said to you guys, "I'll see you there." Then she turned to Maggie and said, "Alright let's go."

Maggie took off into the woods on the horse with Lori. You, Daryl, Carol and Andrea all set off back to the trailer and Motorcycle so that you could get the others from camp.

Lori and Carol took the trailer back and you and Daryl rode on his motorcycle.

Right at camp entrance Daryl popped a wheelie in the bike to show off. When he did that you hung onto him for dear life and asked him, "Oh my gosh! Are you crazy?! You nearly killed me!"

Daryl parked the motorcycle and started cracking up at you the sexy biker reassured you, "Don't worry Megan, I wouldn't have let you get hurt."

You smiled at him and laughed, "Ya sure just don't do it again."

You got off Daryl's motorcycle and walked further into camp you yelled, "Guys hurry get in the trailer, Carl has been shot!"

You were getting back on the Motorcycle as Glenn, T-dog, Dale, and Amy headed to the trailer. You wondered where Ed was so you asked Amy. "Hey Amy?"

Amy turned around and looked at you, "Yea?"

You looked around again before continuing the question, "Where's Ed?"

Amy sighed, "It was like right after you guys left, me, Glenn, T-dog and Dale were sitting at the campfire spot talking and Ed was in his tent resting. We heard a scream but by the time we got to him... he was dead."

You nodded slowly taking it in you asked her, "Are you gonna tell Carol?"

Amy nodded, yea I'll tell her on the way to Carl."

You smiled to lighten the moment, "Thanks Amy."

Amy then climbed into the trailer and you wrapped your arms around Daryl. Daryl took off towards the farm followed by the trailer.

You all finally got to the farm which was about 65 minutes away from your camp. When you got there you and Daryl got off the motorcycle and everyone else got out of the trailer. You all walked up to the ranch house together and Daryl rang the doorbell.

That girl you saw earlier on the horse came to the door.

Maggie smiled, "You must all be here for Carl?"

You caught Glenn staring at Maggie and he was the one to answer her, "Yea, we are... how is he doing?"

Maggie sighed, "I'm sorry but not too good, we're waiting on Shane and Otis to get back with the supplies we need to do the surgery... well all of you come in and make yourselves at home."

All of you filed in through the door and you all split up and went to explore different parts of the house.

You saw Rick sitting on the couch alone crying silently into his hands. You went and sat beside him with your hand on his back for comfort.

Rick turned to you, yes, clearly he had been crying he started telling you how he felt and what was going on, "Megan, it's all my fault, I let him go up to that deer... Otis shot the deer and the bullet went straight through it into my son."

You didn't really know what to say, his son could be dying in there. You put some words together, "You didn't know Rick, really what are the odds of that happening? These people seem to know what their doing."

Rick calmed down a bit but you could tell he was still very upset, he informed you, "Shane and Otis need to get that equipment to the house soon. If they don't Hershel will have to do the surgery without the equipment and Carl may not be able to breathe on his own and die. If we wait too long Carl will loose too much blood and die, Hershel won't let me give Carl anymore blood, he said it would be too bad on my body. Only if Shane and Otis get back with that equipment then Carl would be saved."

You heard a noise outside and got up and walked to the door. You could see Shane getting out of the truck. Excitement went all through you. You yelled across the house, "Everyone! Their back!"

It seems like everyone in the house did hear you because all of a sudden everyone in the house ran out to the truck.

Rick gave you a hug as he headed to meet Shane, you gave him a hug back.

Shane handed the equipment to Hershel and Hershel ran into the house to get to work on Carl.

Otis's wife went up to Shane, "Where's Otis?"

Shane looked at the ground upset, then he looked back at her, "I'm sorry mam' we got cornered and he sacrificed himself so I could get away and save Carl."

The woman dropped to her knees crying. Maggie herself was also crying but managed to control herself and bring Otis's wife back into the house. You looked over at Daryl and saw him giving Shane a dirty look. You looked over to Shane and saw he was meeting Daryl's cold gaze. You could feel the tension in the atmosphere from the two men staring each other down. You jumped in between them and said,

"Do we really have to do this right now? Isn't Carl more important?"

You saw Daryl nod his head, "I totally agree with you Megan."

With that the three of you walked into the house the guys went separate ways but you could still feel tension thick in the air.

About half an hour later Hershel emerged from Carl's room and made the announcement, "Everyone, Carl's going to be just fine. It's a true miracle that he survived."

After you all heard the great news that Carl was alright you decided to head back to your tent. Daryl caught up to you and you turned to see him.

He gave a half smile and you smiled back at him, "What are you up to?"

Daryl rolled his eyes, "What does it look like I'm up to? Ima go back to my tent... wanna come?"

You laughed at Daryl, one minute he was being a sarcastic jerk and the next he could act so... cute and nice. You calmed yourself down and looked into his eyes, "It depends... are you gonna show me those tattoos?"

You could have sworn you saw him blush he smiled and said with his sexy accent, "What ya playing at girl?"

You laughed and replied, trying not to be offended by his attitude, "You told me earlier you would show me your tattoos."

Daryl laughed sarcastically, "Ya took me seriously?"

You rolled your eyes at Daryl and said annoyed, "Ya..."

Daryl narrowed his eyes at you, "You really wanna see those?"

Now you were really irritated with him, what was his problem? You rolled your eyes again, "I did..."

Daryl kinda laughed at you and walked away from you to his tent. When he turned around and saw you weren't following him but just standing where he left you he said, "Well common' then."

You were kinda confused now, you thought he was mad at you. You didn't really know if you wanted to go into his tent alone with how he was acting. You sighed and shook the feeling off. You would be just fine... He was really hot anyways. You followed him into his tent. The sun was still out so there was enough light coming through the tent so that you could see everything clearly.

Once you got into the tent you sat in front of Daryl so you would be facing him. You smiled at him and said, "Okay, now that you got me in here, show me those tattoos."

Daryl laughed at your eagerness to see his tattoos so he just pointed to one on the bottom of his right forearm. Then he pointed to one on his lower right bicep.

He looked at you and asked you sarcastically, "Ya satisfied?"

You managed a smile even though you were slightly disappointed, you managed the courage to ask him, "Is that it?"

He laughed for real this time. "Is that it?... no, but I would have to take my shirt off to show you the rest of them..."

He was teasing you and you knew he was. You smiled, "Take your shirt off then..."

Daryl smiled he was turning this into a game, "Maybe I don't wanna." Daryl stood up as he said that.

You stood up also, "Maybe I'll take it off for ya..." you walked over to him. You noticed that he always cuts the sleeves off his shirt. You smiled to yourself thinking of how sexy he was.

Daryl smiled, "Ya checking me out girl?"

You blushed, "Maybe I am, maybe I ain't." You started to unbutton his flannel and felt him tense up. You backed away concerned about him, "Daryl... are you ok?"

Daryl took a deep breath and calmed down, "Yea, I'm fine... "

You still looked at him, a bit concerned, "Are you sure?..."

The red-neck nodded his head but replied to you with a bit of an impatient tone, "Yea, I told ya I'm fine, go on now, continue."

You looked at him, gosh the man was so hard to read. The heat of the moment was gone, though but you continued to unbutton his shirt more cautiously this time.

Finally it was all unbuttoned and he let his shirt fall to the ground. You looked away for a second but then got the courage to actually look at his body. He had a tatoo on the left side of his chest. You gently touched it and Daryl flinched but calmed down quickly.

Your eyes wandered down his perfect body. He had so many scars, you moved your hand from his chest and brought it down to gently trace over the long scars on his body.

You felt like you were gonna cry, did his parents or brother do this to him? You slowly looked up into his soft blue eyes and asked him, "Daryl, who did this to you?"

You remembered the story he had told you but you didn't think that he meant he was beaten so bad the wound left scars.

Daryl looked up at you and said softly, "Merle wanted to teach me how to become a tough strong man... Parents didn't care what he did to me..."

You looked at him in shock, you weren't sure what to say, "I- I'm so sorry... I didn't know..."

Daryl smiled to hide the pain, "Ya, you didn't it's okay..."

The sun was starting to set and you looked out of the tent and sighed, "Its getting late, I think I'll head back to my tent and get some sleep."

Daryl nodded but as you were about to walk out he stopped you, "Megan, wait... will you just, stay with me tonight?"

You turned around and smiled, "Yea, I'd love to." With that you and Daryl snuggled down in his sleeping bag but on opposite sides of it to avoid contact.

You thought about him that night, he could be such a jerk but then be so sweet. He was 27 and you were 18, you sighed, you knew you barely had a chance with him. That kinda made you want him even more.

In the morning you woke up and turned over so Daryl would be the first person you would see. Only... he wasn't there. You got up and left the tent. Everyone was up already so you decided to join the group around the horse stable. You walked up to them tiredly and greeted them, "Morning guys, how are you?"

They turned around and smiled at you and told you morning then Lori asked you, "Megan, have you seen Daryl?" You sincerely looked confused, you really were quite confused, "No... that was what I was going to ask you guys."

Everyone in the group looked at each other, you were still lost though, "Whats going on?" You asked looking at everyone.

Hershel came over to you and laid a soft, gentle hand on your shoulder, "Daryl is missing and so is my horse Nervous Nelly."

Daryl's point of view:

*Going back to where he left Megan in the tent*

I looked over at Megan, she was still asleep beside me. I was about to leave her and go look for Sophia though. I got up out of the sleeping bag and changed clothes right there in the tent. Part of me wanted for her to wake up and see me in my boxers. She didn't though, the girl was sound asleep.

I left the tent to go look for Sophia, I knew that I would find her and she would be just fine. But I was really ticked off that no one else was even looking for her anymore. It reminded me of when I was just a boy, once I got lost in the woods for nine days and everyone forgot I was even missing.

Had to find Sophia.

I went to the horse stable and tacked up one of the horses then I rode off into the woods to look for the little girl. I was riding around and then I saw her doll laying on the ground. I picked it up and got back on the horse to ride around and look for her more. The doll meant a new sign of hope to me I guess.

All of a sudden the horse gets spooked and bucks me off. I went flying through the air and rolled down the side of a cliff like thing in the woods. it hurt as my body hit the rocks, the dirt and at the bottom the water. It was a very long fall maybe 100 feet. I laid there for a while wanting to be done I couldn't get back up there. I looked up the side of the cliff I had just fallen from. There was no way, but that didn't stop me.

I got up off the ground and started weakly climbing back up towards the top. I was probably about half way there and then I lost my balance and fell back down to the bottom all over again. This time though, I felt something pierce my side and looked over to see my arrow, it had went through my side completely from when I fell. An end was sticking out of the side of my stomach and the other end was sticking out the side of my back. Then I passed out.

Merle came up to me and grabbed ahold of my foot. He got up in my face and was taunting me, "What ya doing out here brother?"

I looked back at him, "I'm looking for a little girl."

Merle smirked, "What? So ya have a thing for little girls now do ya?"

I shook my head this type of treatment was reasonable from Merle, "No I don't have a thing for little girls, a little girl went missing from our group an I hav to find er."

Merle laughed , "My little brother gettingsoft is he?"

Daryl slowly opened his eyes to realize that Merle wasn't really there, he had just passed out and was dreaming about Merle. He felt something on his foot, it was a walker about to bite him. Was it here the whole time he thought Merle was? Daryl tackled it to the ground and used a tree branch to bash it's head in. He sat back and saw another walker coming.

He slowly pulled the arrow out of his side wincing in pain. He pulled back the arrow in his crossbow and just as it was about to jump on him, Daryl shot it on the head with the arrow just in time. He flung the walker off to the side and then Daryl just laid on the ground for a bit. He finally got up and walked over to the walkers, cutting off their ears. He found a string by the lake and put the walker ears on it. After he made the necklace, he put it around his neck to keep the walkers away. Then he went back over to the cliff and started climbing. He was almost at the top and then he saw Merle standing there, Daryl wasn't asleep this time or knocked out, he was just hallucinating. So there was a hallucination of Merle there at the top waiting for Daryl. Merle was taunting him, "You can't make it, your never getting back to camp... your not strong enough."

The hallucination of his brother angered him so much that he managed to make it to the top. Then he started heading back to camp.

Megan's point of view:

*Present time*

Daryl was gone, he had left you gosh you were so worried about him, the worst part though is, no one would allow you to go look for him.

Everyone turned there attention out into the field to Nelly who was galloping back to the stable with no Daryl. This caused you to panic more. Lori came up behind you and laid a hand on your left shoulder, "That was the horse Daryl took... since it came back without him he might be... gone."

You turned around real fast to face Lori, you knocked her hand off your shoulder and spat angrily at her, "No, I think I know that already!..." You ran your hands through your hair trying to calm your emotions, "But unlike you, Lori, I know that Daryl is just fine... he's not gone... he can't be." Then you walked away from the bad-at-comforting Lori.

You walked back to your tent and saw Andrea on the RV. aiming a gun at what looked like a Walker. The gun fired and then you heard Rick, Shane and Glenn screaming, "Nooo!"

You were so confused, you saw Rick and Shane pick up the walker and start bringing it back to camp, why? Then you put the pieces together, that wasn't a walker... it was Daryl!

You ran as fast as you could to the guys. You saw how beat up Daryl was, you realized that from a distance Daryl really did look like a walker. Then you noticed he had a walker ear necklace on. Now you were really confused you looked at Rick, "Why is he wearing ears?"

Rick shook his head, "I have no idea, we just won't tell anyone about this."

You nodded, "Okay."

When the five of you returned to camp Andrea ran up to you and saw Daryl, "Oh my gosh, I shot Daryl!"

You reassured her, "He should be fine, the bullet just barely grazed him."

Andrea still looked upset but she left anyways in search of Dale.

You all got Daryl inside the house and put him on a bed where Hershel came in with Maggie to start surgery on Daryl. You, Rick, Shane and Glenn all left the room.


	6. Chapter 6

You were playing Monopoly with Shane, Rick and Andrea when Hershel came into the room.  
The old man got everyone's attention and Glenn turned the tv off so everyone could hear him. Hershel cleared his throat and began speaking, "Daryl's surgery is complete and he is awake so anyone who would like to see him can go in his room now." Hershel walked out of the room. You looked to Rick, Shane and Andrea when Hershel said if anyone wanted to see Daryl they could. You told them, "I'm gonna go check on him real fast since no one else is." Rick and Shane nodded but Andrea smiled and looked at you, "Dont be too long now..."  
You laughed, Andrea had become one of your best friends since you joined Ricks group. You walked over to Daryl's temporary room and opened the door and you walked in slowly. You sat on a chair next to the bed, "I came to check on you, how are you feeling?"  
Daryl had a bandage around his head from the gunshot and one around his belly from the arrow. He kinda looked terrible but it looked like Hershel and Maggie had washed him up because he didn't have dirt or blood all over him like he did when he came back from being bucked off of the horse.  
Daryl said sarcastically, "Oh I'm feeling fine got bucked off a horse, took an arrow ta the side, and got shot. All in one day, never been better."  
You rolled your eyes at him, he had to be feeling a little better to be that sarcastic. You stood up and walked over to his bed, you kissed him on his cheek and he flinched a bit. Must have thought you were gonna hit him, you would never hit him though, he meant too much to you. You stood up and turned to the door but stopped, "Ya know... I thought I might have lost you today... don't you ever scare me like that again."  
Finally saying what you had came to say you left Daryl alone in his room and went out into the family room to continue playing monopoly. When you got back you sat down beside Andrea and said enthusiastically, "Alright let's finish this game."  
Andrea gave you a look like your-going-to-tell-me-what-happened look. You nodded your head and took your turn on the game. It was almost over though because all of you were running out of money. Andrea lost first and then Rick then you then Shane. Shane spent like five minutes taunting the three of you about his incredible win.

That night everyone except Daryl went out to the campfire site on the farm. You were all sitting around the campfire cracking jokes and stories. Amy all of a sudden got up and started to walk away. Andrea saw her and asked, "Where are you going?"  
Amy turned around to look at her sister, "I have to pee... gosh you try to be discrete around here."  
Amy walked over to the RV and went inside it because the house was too far away to walk to to use the restroom. She was gone for a little while and then you all heard a scream. You looked over to see a walker chewing on her arm and blood was all over the place. Shane killed the walker and Andrea ran over to her little sister. She wouldn't let anyone else near her, Andrea held Amy until she took her last breath and turned into a walker. Once she did Andrea told her she loved her and shot her in the head.  
Rick and Shane took Amy's body out into the field and buried her. Then they burnt the walker who took Amy's life. You all walked back to the tents in sorrow and silence not knowing what to say.  
The next morning you woke up early wanting to see Daryl. You climbed out of your tent and turned to the house, you saw Hershel sitting on the porch rocking in his wooden chair. You went up and sat in the chair beside him.  
The old man smiled as he greeted you, "Good morning Megan, would you like some breakfast?"  
You nodded in response you said, "Yes please Hershel, and goodmorning to you too."  
the old man smiled and lead you into his house and to the kitchen. He made you a bowl of cereal. You thanked him and asked, "How's Daryl?"  
Hershel pointed towards his room, "He's in his room. You can go see him if you want, just take him a bowl of cereal." Hershel made another bowl of cereal for Daryl and you took it with you to his room. You walked in and saw Daryl twirling a pen in his hand he was obviously bored. You sat down on the chair next to his bed and handed him his bowl of cereal. He took it without complaining, he was nice to you even, "Thank you for the fruit loops..." He trailed off not being good at using kind words.  
You smiled at him and said quietly, "Your welcome."  
Daryl returned your smile and said, "No one believes me Megan."  
You looked at him puzzled, "What do you mean?"  
Daryl locked his blue gaze on you, "I tried to tell different ones but none of them will believe me, I don't think Otis sacrificed himself to the walkers... I think Shane killed him to save his own butt."  
You returned Daryl's gaze for a moment, trying to take everything in. You remembered how Daryl seemed skeptical when Shane first came back without the man who accidentally shot Carl, "Well, I believe you Daryl... I trust that you know what your talking about."  
Daryl smiled a bit at you, "I knew, it just didn't add up... how Shane came back with Otis's gun. I don't think anyone else noticed, but if Otis sacrificed himself for Shane... Shane wouldn't have had his gun."  
You believed Daryl before but Daryl's reasoning made even more since. You looked back at Daryl trying to keep your eyes off his body, "It all makes since... I don't see why the others didn't believe you."  
Daryl nodded, "They just see the part of Shane they want to see."  
You agreed and looked at the time, you sighed, "I'll be back later... I need to go help around camp." You started to walk out the door but Daryl grabbed your arm. You turned around to see what he wanted, when you did turn around Daryl said two words, "Kiss me."  
You smiled as you got butterflies wildly in your belly. You leaned down to the bed and kissed Daryl gently but passionately on the lips. There were definitely sparks lots of them. You pulled away and smiled as you turned back to the door, "I'll see you later ." Daryl smiled but then said, "Ya gotta stop bein so nice to me, I dont deserve it..."  
You came back to Daryl's bed and whispered in his ear, "Yes you do, your the most amazing person I have ever met in my life."  
You walked outside to see what needed to be done around camp and you ended up going up to the stream to do some laundry with Andrea, Lori and Carol. When you all were got to the stream Andrea turned to you. She had really been trying not to think about Amy's death.  
Andrea nudged you and said with a smile on her face, "We all know you dig Daryl... and we all know somethings going on between you two."  
Lori and Carol turned their attention to your and Andrea's conversation. You laughed at them all and shook your head, "Ya, I like him... BUT there is nothing but friendship going on between us."  
You thought that might be the truth. After all Daryl is so hard to read it bugs you sometimes not knowing what his reaction is going to be to things. Anyways that kiss in the bedroom might have not even meant anything to him. He didn't really tell you if it was good or not. You felt something though but you had no idea of what Daryl felt. He acted like it was no big deal.  
The women looked at you like they didn't believe you... now was the time to tell them what Daryl had told you about Shane and Otis. You cleared your throat, "Can we all just sit down please?"  
They looked at each other and smiled and grinned. What did they think you were gonna tell them? Oh well... you sighed they would know what you were about to tell them soon, "I was visiting with Daryl and he told me something... you may not like it but just hear me out. He said that he thinks Shane might have killed Otis."  
Andrea's jaw dropped open, "Why?"  
You continued the story, "He thinks he might have been the only one to notice but when he came back from getting Carl that regulator he had Otis's gun... If Otis had sacrificed himself then when he died and turned into a walker the gun would still be in his hand. But no, Shane has it. Which means that Shane took Otis's gun and most likely shot him and left him to die so he could get away."  
You looked around at the group and you thought they seemed convinced. Lori's mouth dropped open as she said slowly, "I can't believe I made out with that guy..." You all turned your attention to Lori and Andrea spoke up and said, "... I did too..."  
Lori and Andrea looked at each other and at the same time said, "Eww!"  
You all started laughing at their reactions and then Carol turned to you laughing still, "Oh come on Megan, all of us know you have probably made out with Daryl."  
You shook your head laughing, "No way! It's all I can do to get a positive reaction from him half the time."  
Everyone started laughing harder and then you asked, "You believe me and Daryl about Shane though right?"  
Everyone nodded and Andrea said, "Sadly I do, it makes sense enough."  
Then Lori changed the subject, "Megan have you seen the new girl yet that Rick found and brought back to camp?"  
You shook your head, "No, what's her name?"  
It was Andrea who answered, "Her name is Rebecca... I don't think I trust her."  
You looked at her puzzled, "Why?"  
Andrea shrugged, "Theres just something weird about her that's all."

You all finally got done with the laundry and headed back to camp. When you got back the new girl was there. She had natural colored red hair that was about medium length and straight, she was of average height and looked like she was about 25. She was wearing a tank top and some grey blue jeans. She smiled and walked up to you reaching to shake your hand. You shook her hand and faked smiled back. She introduced herself, "My names Rebecca, and you are?"  
You let go of her hand, "My names Megan." You walked over to Rick handing him the laundry because he offered to put it away. After you gave Rick the laundry you walked inside the house and went to Daryl's room.

You opened the door and walked in. He was laying on his bed eating potato chips. You smiled and walked over to the bed. You touched his arm and when he looked at you and you said, "Scoot over."  
Daryl smirked at you, " Maybe I dont wanna."  
You kept poking him and saying, "Please, please, please?"  
Daryl rolled his eyes at you and groaned, "Fine but just cause ai want you to shut up."  
He scooted over and made room for you. You got on the bed and sat beside him, you smirked and said, "Thank you... meanie."  
Daryl laughed at you, "Oh so I'm mean for letting you have your way?"  
You laughed and said, "Yup, you are." Then you stole a chip from him and popped it in your mouth. After you ate it you asked him, "Have you met the new girl yet?"  
Daryl shook his head.  
You sighed, "Then you are not getting informed on the group news... and Amy was killed by a walker last night."  
Daryl looked at you and you saw sympathy in his eyes, "I didn't know, I'm sorry."  
You shook your head, "Its okay, there wasn't anything anyone could do for her anyways."  
Daryl grunted, "If I was out there I coulda taken it out with my crossbow."  
You put your hand comfortingly on his arm and reassured him, "No one even knew it was there."  
Then there was a knock on the bedroom door. You turned to the door and said, "Come in."  
You were suprised about who walked in, it was Rebecca with some food. She walked in and saw you and Daryl sitting on the bed together and your hand on his arm. She looked at you and at Daryl and then asked, "Oh, Megan, is this your boyfriend?"  
At first you wasn't sure what to say but you shook your head, "No he is just a friend."  
Rebecca nodded and kind of smirked as she walked over to Daryl's side of the bed and sat his food on the nightstand. She turned to Daryl and asked him, "Ao your single then?"  
She was so flirting with him, you could feel anger rising in you. You wanted so badly to tell her he was yours and she needed to back off.  
Daryl nodded slowly, "Ya I'm single an I plan ta stay that way."  
Rebecca got a half smirk on her face, "Thats what you say now... wait untill I'm done with you..."  
Daryl gave her a dirty look and asked, "What is wrong with you?"  
Rebecca smiled, "I know a keeper when I see one." with that the brat left the room.  
All you could think about was how pushy she was. She was trying to take Daryl for herself... not that you belamed her... but Daryl was yours.  
You were about to leave the room to go out and sleep in your tent but as you tried to get up out of the bed, Daryl grabbed your arm and pulled you back down into the bed. He leaned over and whispered in your ear, "Stay."  
You smiled and cuddled up to Daryl. You both laid down together and you pulled the covers up on you and rested your head on Daryl's chest. Before long you were fast asleep and you woke up to the sound of Daryl talking to someone. You sat up slowly and saw that Daryl had been talking to Hershel.  
Hershel smiled at you as you woke up and said, "Morning sleeping Beauty."  
You smiled at the old man, "Morning Hershel."  
Hershel smiled again and said, "I've got good news to tell both of you, Daryl should be recovered enough to join in on group activities now which means he will be sleeping in his tent starting tonight."  
You smiled, "Thats great, thanks for all the help Hershel, I really appreciate it."  
Hershel nodded and left the room.  
When he left you got up out of bed followed by Daryl. He was told by Hershel that he could remove his bandages today. So when Daryl got out of bed he took the bandages around his waist and around his head off and threw them away.  
You couldn't keep your eyes off his body, he was so drop dead gorgeous. He grabbed a t-shirt off the night stand and looked at you. He smiled, he had seen you staring at him. He slowly slid the shirt on and took a pocket knife out of his back pocket. Then he cut the sleeves off of his t-shirt and threw the sleeves into the trash can.  
You smiled not so discretely as he walked over to you, "Why do you do that?"  
Daryl smirked, "Do what?"  
You answered him, "Cut the sleeves off your shirts."  
Daryl laughed kinda more to himself, "I don't know, I just hate sleeves I guess."  
You smiled, "Well that is very sexy."  
He blushed.  
You grinned nervously.  
Daryl smiled, "Well thank you, I wish I coulda heard that before."  
You ran your hands through your hair, the moment was very awkwardd... you was trying to think of something to say, "Well I'm going to go help around camp."  
Daryl nodded, "An Ima bout ta go huntin."  
You smiled and left the room to go see what the others were doing." You saw them at the camp site all sitting around talking kind of looking panicked. You went up to them and asked, "Whats going on here?"  
Rick turned to you, "We were just informed that there are tons of walkers in the shed. You gasped not knowing what to say.  
Then Daryl went up behind you and put his arms around your waist.  
Everyone looked at you guys and Rebecca gasped, "But he said he was single."  
Daryl must have just noticed he had shown affection towards you in front of everyone because he slowly removed his arms from you and picked his crossbow back up off the ground swinging it over his shoulder.  
The weird stares lasted for only a moment and then everyone resumed conversation  
about the walkers.  
Shane spoke up, "I think we should just let them all out and shoot them down."  
Rick shook his head, "No, Hershel must have his reasons, they haven't caused any trouble so far so let's just leave them be."  
Shane was getting kinda mad, "Ya and when all those walkers bust out of there and kill half the group I'll say, 'told ya so'" Shane spit at Rick in disrespect.  
Rick just stood there in disbelief.  
Daryl was annoyed, "Are you just gonna let him treat ya like that? Your our leader Rick, dont let him challenge that."  
Daryl ran after Shane and grabbed his shoulder, roughly turning him around, Daryl spat at him, "How can you disrespect Rick like that man? He would lay down his life for you, he's your best friend!"  
Shane flicked Daryl off and swung a punch at Daryl's face. Though Daryl saw it coming and grabbed Shanes arm to stop him. The group ran over to Shane and Daryl at this point. Daryl socked Shane right on his left jaw. Shane fell to the ground and while he was down Daryl positioned the crossbow ready to fire. He had it pointed right at Shane's head.  
Then Rick came up and jumped in btween the two of them. Daryl swung his crossbow back over his shoulder showing that he was backing down.  
Rick went over to Shane and asked him, "Look I need to go back to town to get some supplies... wanna come?"  
Shane nodded and answered, "Yea, I'll go..."  
Hershel came outside and to the group just in time to hear Shane and Rick were going into town. The old man stepped up and volunteered, "I'll go with you too."  
Rick nodded and him, Shane and Hershel all went to the truck and drove away.

As they left you went over to Andrea and asked her, "Is there anything I can do to help around here?"  
Andrea shook her head and smiled, "You can always go hunting with Daryl."  
You laughed at her, "Okay bit I swear there's nothing going on between us."  
Andrea smirked at you, "That explains why he wrapped his arms around you like that."  
You sighed, there was really no pulling the wool over Andrea's eyes, "I was just as surprised as anyone else."  
With that you walked over to Daryl, "Hey, I guess I'm going hunting with you."  
Daryl laughed but you didn't know why he just turned to look at the woods and muttered to you, "Common." You smiled as he gave you his knife and you two walked out into the woods together.  
After about a hour, you both came back to camp with no luck. You saw lots of people gathered around Hershel's truck. You and Daryl walked up to join them and saw a young man sitting in the truck passed out... who was he?  
You and Daryl looked at each other as Shane, Rick and Hershel climbed into the truck. Daryl asked you, "Would you like to go hunting with me?"  
You smiled and nodded, Daryl handed you his knife and both of you went off into the woods to go hunting. after a hour, still no luck so you both decided to head back to camp.  
When you got back you saw the truck that Rick, Shane and Hershel had left in. Everyone was standing around it so you and Daryl walked over there to see what was going on.  
All of you were just standing there looking inside the truck at the man who was passed out in the back seat. He looked to be in his late teens to his early 20's.  
Rick explained how they found him, "Me, Shane and Hershel were out gathering supplies and there was another group there already, they were causing trouble. Well Randal was there and he jumped off a roof trying to land on his groups truck... He missed and a fence spike went through his leg. His group left him and so Me, Shane and Hershel saved him by ripping him off the fence peg. His leg is badly injured so we brought him back here with us."  
Shane muttered under his breath, "And that was such a 'great' idea."  
Rick glared at Shane as telling him to shut up.  
Hershel cleared his throat, "Theres a spot in the horse barn where Randal can stay tied up while he recovers and we decide what to do with him."  
Shane turned to Rick, "Help me get him to the barn?"  
Rick nodded, "Yea."  
Shane and Rick dragged Randal out of the truck. Then took him to the horse barn to tie him up.

Later inside the house...

Hershel: "I already said, it's up to Rick to decide what happens to this... Randal." The old man threw his hands up in the air annoyed about the argument that was going on over Randal's fate.  
Shane rolled his eyes, "I say we just kill him, keep the camp safe eh? Anyways Rick would never have the guts to suggest that."  
Rick turned to Shane a bit annoyed, "I was about to suggest we take a vote, majority rules... who is in favor of killing Randal?"

Everyone in the group raised their hands except for Dale. Shane turns to took at the aged man, "Really?"  
Dale looked upset, "This is horrible guys, you are going so lightly on discussing if a man should keep his life... he hasn't done anything wrong even."  
Shane rolled his eyes, "He came from a bad group an anyways, we don't know he could be dangerous..."  
Dale was staring at Shane now, "I just think we should give him a chance..."  
Shane laughed sarcastically, "Oh yea, let's give him until he tries to kill someone." Shane turned to Rick, "Cmon, let's get this over with."  
Rick nodded and headed back out to the horse barn with Shane and Daryl. Rick was about to shoot Randal when Carl came to watch Randal die. Carl looked at Rick and urged him, "Do it dad."  
Rick looked at his son and dropped the gun. He didn't want his son to see him kill someone, "Go back to the house Carl."  
Carl shook his head, "I wanna watch."  
Rick ran his hands through his hair and turned to Daryl and Shane, "Just tie him back up, I can't do this."  
Shane and Daryl tied Randal back up and went back to the house with Rick and Carl.

A few days later...  
You woke up in your own tent because you hadn't slept in Daryl's tent the night before like you sometimes do. You stretched and got dressed for the day, you wanted to see Daryl really badly. You guys hadn't even kissed since when he was staying in the house to recover. You liked him so much too.  
Once you got over to his tent you looked inside only, Daryl wasn't there. You sighed where could he be? Then you heard screaming coming from the horse barn, it sounded like Randal. You listened for a minute and you could make out Daryl yelling.

Inside the horse barn:

Daryl yelled at Randal, "Tell me where you stupid camp is!"  
Randal struggled against his restraints, "I can't man, I can't rat them out."  
Daryl laughed, "Well let's see if you can talk once I rip your scab off."  
Randal was scared, "No! no, no, man please don't do it!"  
Daryl picked up a knife and went over to Randal, He swatted down to get in Randals face. Then he pit the knife up to Randals face and slowly slid it across his jaw bone leaving a kinda deep cut.  
Randal screamed, "Stop! Stop!"  
Daryl looked at him and asked cooly, "You gonna talk?"  
Randal stuttered, "I wish I could, but I can't I'm not that type of person."  
Daryl got up and walked across the horse barn, he came back with a studded chain. He was a distance away from Randal when he started swinging it and launched it right at the hostages face.  
Randal screamed again and Daryl dropped the chain to walk over to him. He looked at Randal right in the eyes and asked him slowly, "Now am I gonna have ta rip that scab off slowly? Cause believe me I will. Or are ya gonna talk?"  
There was a slight hesitation and Daryl started to reach down to pull of Randals scab but then Randal spoke up, "Okay! Okay, I'll talk man, "Their about 5 miles northwest from your camp."  
Daryl took that information in and then socked Randal in the face.  
Randal whimpered, "Why did ya do that man? I talked!"  
Daryl laughed and got up to exit the horse barn.

Outside the horse barn...

You didn't want Daryl to know you had been spying on him so you ran off to your tent before he exited the barn.  
You were in your tent and you looked out the window to see Daryl walking to his tent. You exited your tent and ran to catch up with Daryl. You came up behind him and with a playful voice you said, "Hey!"  
Daryl smirked and with an attitude asked you, "What ya so exited bout?"  
You smiled trying to ignore Daryl's obvious attitude towards you, "I'm just happy to see you."  
Daryl laughed sarcastically, "Ya, whatever." Then he tried to walk away. You put a hand on his shoulder and turned him around. When you turned him around, you saw his bloody knuckles. You took one of his hands in your own and looked into his icy blue eyes, "What happened?"  
Daryl pulled his hand away from you and muttered, "None of ya business, leave me alone..." Daryl walked back to his tent, leaving you standing there. You wanted to cry, you thought there was something going on between the two of you... apparently there wasn't. You sighed and ran your hands through your hair, 'Gosh he's so darned hard to understand!'  
You sighed and walked after him into his tent, you just walked into his tent because he had left it open. He was taking his shirt off and putting a new one on. He turned around when you entered his tent. Daryl rolled his eyes at you, "Why ya in my tent?"  
You looked at the ground, unsure of what to say, and then you said it, "I wanted to tell you it's a waste of time for you to put a shirt on..."


	7. Chapter 7

What were you thinking, you had heard Daryl beating a man and it seemed to not even bother you. You couldn't believe you had really told him that it was a waste of time for him to even put a shirt on.

You looked up at him and he smirked, "What ya sayin girl?"

You rolled your eyes and took a step closer to him. Before you knew it you were going by gut instinct and you crashed your lips against his. Sparks flew, at least for you they did. Must have for Daryl to because after only a moments hesitation he was kissing you back. You wrapped your arms around his neck pulling him closer to you.

Daryl had his arms around your waist and then you moved your arms away from his neck and up his shirt. Daryl just kept his arms around your waist though. You were removing his shirt when you heard someone cough.

You reluctantly turned away from Daryl to see Andrea standing at the tent entrance. She was smiling awkwardly... wow what an awkward moment. You kinda tried to exchange her smile and burst into laughter. Andrea then joined in on you laughing. Daryl just stood in the back of his tent clueless on what was going on.

Andrea tried to avoid looking at Daryl's amazing body but kinda failed. You smirked, it was okay... you couldn't blame her. Andrea finally spoke, "Hershel is serving lunch if the both of you want to come in and eat." You nodded your head, "Yea, we'll be there in a minute."

Andrea walked away smiling. Daryl put his shirt back on as you stared at his body. Then when his shirt was totally on you made a fake sad face and whined, "Aww... you really need a shirt."

Daryl smiled, an actual real smile this time and as he walked past you to exit his tent he grabbed your hand and said, "Cmon."

You and Daryl walked in Hershel's house together and were stared at awkwardly by most of the group except for Andrea. You met Shane's gaze, he was staring at you... was he... jealous? No he couldn't be. You took a seat next to Andrea and Daryl sat on the other side of you. The stares from the group went away and soon everything was normal again. Hershel served all of you grilled cheese sandwiches, which happened to be your favorite food.

You ate and then sat there and talked to the group. Just as you were taking a drink of water, Carl asked you a question, "Megan, did you make out with Daryl?"

Your eyes widened and you spit out your water in shock. Everyone was laughing at you and Carl cause it was pretty funny. Daryl was laughing so hard that he could barely talk. You were kinda happy because you had never really seen Daryl laugh like that... ever. You stuttered from laughter a little bit as you answered the question, "N-no C-Carl we did not."

This caused the group to laugh even harder and then Lori said to Carl, now calmed down a bit from laughing uncontrollably, "Now Carl, don't ask those questions okay? It's none of your business." Carl nodded and smiled, "Can I ask a different question?" The group all broke into laughter again and some of them shouted, "No!" at Carl in between laughs.

Shane while still laughing got up out if his seat and went outside claiming that he was going to go hunting.

After lunch everyone else came outside and were playing around until Rick came up from the horse barn with a worried expression on his face, "Randal's gone." Rick said to the group.

Everyone looked around in shock as they all headed back to the horse barn with Rick in the lead. Sure enough... Randal was no where to be seen and his supports were neat and un-struggled with as if someone had let him out. Daryl groaned, "We gotta go an find em... or he could bring back trouble."

Rick agreed, "Yea, he could bring back his group mates and from what I could tell... they weren't good people."

Some of you were about to begin the search when Shane came out of the woods. His mouth was all bloody and he was limping. As Shane approached the group, he explained what had happened, "Just as I had gotten my stuff to go huntin, I heard Randal whining in the horse barn so I figured I'd go and check on him. When I got in there he had told me that he had to go take a wizz. So I let him go and when he didn't come back, I went looking for him. Turns out the little weasel had hid from me and while I was looking for him, he snuck up on me and shoved me into a tree. I was forced to come back cause I had no idea where he went."

You looked at Daryl who had narrowed his eyes at Shane in disbelief. You wondered what had set Daryl off against Shane. Then Daryl spoke up, "So when you checked on Randal, you were heading to the woods?"

Shane nodded, "Yea..."

Daryl kept his gaze on Shane, "Where's your weapon now?"

Shane looked like he was thinking for a minute, "I dropped it when Randal attacked me."

Daryl nodded but by his unchanging gaze you could tell he wasn't convinced. He still nodded at Shane though and sarcastically said, "That makes so much sense." Rick looked at Daryl, clearly not understanding his attitude towards Shane.

Rick walked up to Shane and informed him, "How about me, and Daryl go track him down and bring him back to camp." Shane nodded and agreed, "Yea, go."

And with that, the two men went off into the woods in search of Randal.

In the woods...

Daryl had been following Randal's tracks and discovered they exactly lined up with Shane's... like they had never separated... He turned to Rick "Well, Shane's story doesn't add up... his and Randals tracks are right together like they were walking aside each other..."

Daryl walked over to a blood-stained tree and saw just a little ways ahead there was a kick up of dirt and leaves suggesting a struggle between Randal and Shane. Daryl turned to Rick and informed him, "Shane's lying."

Daryl walked over to the kick-up and pointed at it, "See, look, they fought here and then one of them continued straight ahead and the other... I'm guessing Shane turned left and ran into that tree... which means Shane wasn't pushed at all..."

Rick looked at the tracks Daryl was pointing at and nodded slowly, "... I see what your saying..."

Then there was a low grumble and a walker came out of the trees. Daryl lifted his crossbow and shot the walker right between it's eyes. The brainless creature fell to the ground, dead. Rick and Daryl walked over to it and looked at it a second before Rick whispered softly, "It's Randal..."

Daryl nodded slowly, "Lets check for bite marks." Rick and Daryl flipped over the limp body but there was no bite marks at all. Daryl finally realized as he pointed to the Walker Randal's neck, "His necks broken..." Daryl turned to Rick waiting for his reaction.

The Sheriff looked into the sky and said, "Lets go back to camp."

Back at camp...

Shane greeted Rick and Daryl, "Hey, did ya find him?"

Daryl narrowed his eyes at Shane, "Yea, we found him... he was a walker with no bite marks... instead he had a broken neck. We couldn't find your weapon though..."

Shane looked nervous at this point, "You must have not looked hard enough then, I'm sure it's back there."

Daryl half-smirked in disbelief, "We followed your tracks exactly." With that Daryl walked away over to you by the tents. He sat down by you, interrupting the gossip session you were having with Andrea, Carol and Lori. Rebecca was kind of off doing her own thing.

When Daryl sat beside you, Andrea half smirked and asked you, "Should we plan on leaving you and Daryl alone?"

You rolled your eyes, "No stay."

Daryl spoke up, "Or you can leave, I don't really give a crap."

Andrea looked at you suspiciously and asked you jokingly, "Did you lie to Carl?"

You laughed and shook your head, "No way, I promise me and Daryl didn't do anything."

Daryl whispered under his breath, "Not yet."

The whole group of women grew silent when Daryl said that. You were kinda caught off guard as well then you looked at the sexy as ever Daryl Dixon, "What?" you asked him before the group broke into laughter.

Daryl smiled half-heartedly, "Nothin..."

You all knew what he had said so when he said 'nothin' trying to cover himself up you all broke into laughter even harder.

You turned your head to see Hershel, and Rick and Maggie all going into the woods. You shrugged thinking nothing of it and turned back to the group. Daryl sighed and got up, going off to God knows where.

Andrea was still laughing, "So are things going good between you and Daryl?"

You sighed, "I don't even know, he's so hard to understand most of the time I just feel like giving up."

A sly smirk crossed Andreas face, "It looked like you were understanding him fine in the tent this morning."

You blushed and this comment caused Lori, and Carol to turn their attention to you. They both 'Awwed' at the same time. Which made you laugh a bit at them. You explained or attempted to, "Well... he had an attitude and it annoyed me so I was going to go in his tent to yell at him... when I got over to his tent... he was changing shirts and so I kinda forgot I was mad at him. And then he asked me what I was doing in his tent so without taking time to think I told him that I came to warn him it was a waste of time for him to put on a shirt. Then I kinda got overtaken by his sexiness and made out with him."

Lori, Carol and Andrea were just looking at you taking everything in. Then they all burst out laughing. Andrea teased you, "Wow how fast your intentions with that man changed."

You blushed a bit, "Oh when you came to get me and Daryl for lunch you couldn't keep your eyes off him."

Everyone turned to Andrea and laughed lightly. Andrea tried to defend herself, "Well in my defense I didn't know what I was walking in on and was caught off guard when I saw Daryl, shirtless... Megan, please don't kill me for this but I have to admit Daryl is very sexy and if he wasn't yours... he would be mine."

You laughed at your friend, "Nah, I'll spare your life. I don't even think Daryl is anyone's he's kinda his own... but I still claim him." You turned to Andrea real fast and gave her the I'm-watching-you face and then laughed. The other women laughed too.

You heard a gunshot coming from near the barn so you, Andrea, Carol and Lori all turned your attention to that direction.

You saw Shane with a gun and a walker that was on a catch pole? Dropping to the ground from Shane's deadly accurate shot. You saw Hershel drop down to his knees in sorrow as the other walker that Rick had on a catch pole was shot dead by Shane. Wait, why did Rick also have a walker on a catch pole?

By now everyone was going up towards the barn with the walkers in it to see what was going on.

Even you, Andrea, Carol, and Lori walked up to see what was happening. Daryl was trying to get Shane under control but Shane managed to get out of Daryl's grip. Hershel was on both knees crying his heart out while Maggie, who was Hershel's only family left was trying to comfort Hershel.

Once Shane broke away from Daryl, he went up to the Walker barn and with his gun, shot the deadlock off. It only took a second before walkers started coming put of the barn.

You, Daryl, Rick, Andrea, Shane, and T-dog had no choice now. You shot down all the walkers as they poured out of the shed. Everyone thought all of the walkers had been killed but then there was a faint growling sound still coming from the shed. The walker slowly cane out of the shed and started walking towards the group. Everyone gasped and just stared at the walker in shock. Even Shane looked upset. Carol started crying uncontrollably and she tried to go up to the walker but Daryl stopped her and pulled Carol to the ground to keep her from going any further. The walker was Sophia, Rick stood up and raised his gun. There was a loud gunshot left hanging in the air as the lost little girl, rediscovered as a walker. Fell to the ground, finally dead for good... finally in peace.

Everyone watched in shock as Sophia's walker form crumpled to the ground... lifeless. Carol saw what her little girl had become right before her eyes. Carol ripped herself out of Daryl's strong, muscular arms and went running to her tent... crying all the way.

Hershel was in such shock he went to his house in silence, followed by Maggie and Glenn.

Maggie and Glenn made a cute couple. Maggie was always confusing Glenn about what she wanted... in the end Glenn being overall confused. It was clear what Maggie wanted from Glenn now though. They walked up to the house with Hershel holding hands. All Maggie wanted from Glenn now was comfort and protection.

You, yourself just couldn't take your eyes off the little Sophia walker that was laying there. You imagined that this had to be extremely hard on Daryl... he had searched endlessly for that little girl and had even taken an arrow and a bullet while looking for her. All along though... she had been in the spare barn... as a walker. You had guessed right, it had upset Daryl. Sophia's death did... quite a bit.

He walked up to you, looking defeated by Sophia's death, "Its all my fault Megan..." You attempted to hug him but he shook you off then he yelled in your face out of rage, defeat, and sorrow, "You know what?! Sophia was never my problem! It wasn't my job ta watch er! Ta look for her!" Daryl yanked his knife out of his belt loop and threw it at the ground with force.

Everyone but you and Daryl had went to the house and tents by now to get away from the bodies of the many walkers. Daryl continued to yell at you, "Its not my fault she's gone!" Daryl shook his head angrily and pointed at you, "Its your fault! I told ya ta stay under that car when we were at that highway... did ya?! No! No ya didn't instead you followed me behind my back and went to fight those walkers! If you would have listened to me ya coulda protected Sophia in the first place!"

You tried to hide how much Daryl had hurt you just now, you didn't want to upset him anymore... you knew that this was only Daryl's way of dealing with emotion such as pain and sadness. He was yelling at you to try to make himself feel better. You understood him so you went along with his accusations, "Your right... it is my fault..." Truth is, Daryl really made you feel like it was your fault.

Daryl nodded when you admitted it was your fault, "Your darned right it was! Ya know what else?! This group would be better without you! I don't give a crap about you! The day you die will be as good as any!"

Now he had went to far... he broke your heart. Your eyes filled with tears and you couldn't keep from crying you let loose your tears and they flowed down your face. You looked up at Daryl and met his cold ice blue eyes you muttered softly, "If that's how you feel..."

You didn't want to be anywhere near him anymore, you felt like he ripped your heart out while it was still beating. You ran as fast as you could into the woods. Your friends tried to run after you and stop you but you ignored them. You were running faster than you ever had before. You were aware of someone chasing you but you just kept running. You cared about every single person in your group, you could even call them all friends... you didn't want to leave them but maybe Daryl was right... Maybe the group would be better without you.

No he was just upset, you knew Daryl he said things he didn't mean when he was mad or upset. You sat down on a log and buried your face in your hands. You heard someone sit down next to you... you looked up, it was Andrea. She laid a hand on your shoulder to comfort you. Then she said softly, "I heard how Daryl talked to you... then I saw you run off... are you okay?"

You shook your head, "No, he told me the group would be better off without me and he said that he don't give a crap about me... then he said the day I die will be as good as any."

Andrea didn't say anything for a moment and then she said, "After you left he felt like crap... he didn't mean what he said... he was upset about what happened with Sophia."

You nodded, "I know... but still he said it..."

Andrea sighed and stood up looking at you she said, "How about we get you back to camp? You can cool down there ... and just so you know the group is better off with you, we need you, for protection, friendship and even entertainment." Andrea smiled, you smiled back, you were needed, that was what you had wanted to hear all your life. You stood up and walked back to camp with Andrea.

When you got back it was dark outside, you heard screaming and everyone was running towards the field. You and Andrea followed and when you reached the rest of the group you saw a horrific sight. Dale was laying on his back with his stomach ripped open.

Hershel came running from the house and stopped at the sight of his friend. The old man shook his head, "He'll never make it back to the house..."

Rick looked at Hershel, "Then let's do the operation here."

Hershel shook his head sadly as he laid a hand in Ricks shoulder, "I'm afraid there's nothing we can do other than put him out of his misery..."

Rick looked at Dale for a moment and slowly raised his gun. Rick just stood there with his gun raised trying to find the courage to shoot when Daryl came up behind him and gently took the gun from Rick.

Daryl rested the gun against Dale's head and said softly to Dale, "I'm sorry brother."

There was a loud shot and then Dale's body fell lifeless.

You looked at Daryl who just stood there, staring at Dale... Daryl looked really upset. Then he just turned and walked off to be alone while Shane and Rick buried Dale.

You followed Daryl into his tent and saw him with his head in his hands. You sat down beside him and sighed. He looked at you and tried to explain, "Megan... I didn't mean what I said to you... the group needs you... and so do I... I guess I'm trying to say..."

Daryl trailed off and you smiled at him, "I know you're trying to say your sorry, it's okay... I understand."

Daryl nodded, "Thank you..."

You grinned and replied, "No problem." then you leaned over and kissed Daryl on the cheek. He kinda flinched a bit so you just left the tent. When you got out you saw Lori and Carol standing on Hershel's front porch and Lori looked distressed. You went up to her, "Whats wrong?" you asked concerned.

Lori tried to calm down, "I can't find Carl, it's to dark for him to be out on his own."

You stood there with her and yelled for Carl. A few minutes later you heard a gunshot ring out and soon enough you saw Rick and Carl come running out of the woods and through the field... they had a whole herd of walkers after them.

You, Daryl, Andrea, Lori, Glenn, T-dog, Hershel, and Maggie all ran to the Rv and grabbed guns and weapons... you were ready for war. As Rick and Carl came closer, they also ran to the Rv for guns. They got there's and then all of you started shooting walkers dead to no end.

Hershel was cornered and you were about to scream out to him but then Rick came over and killed the walkers that were beginning to close in on the old man. You all decided it was time to get outta there and as you looked behind you, you saw Rebecca getting bitten by a walker. You knew it was to late for her now so you just walked away.

Hershel was still standing by his house taking out any walker he could. Rick went up to him and said, "Cmon Hershel we have to go."

Hershel shook his head, "This is my farm, I'll go down with it." Rick grabbed Hershel by his overalls and pulled him to his truck, "I won't allow that."

You climbed in the truck with Rick and Hershel and Rick drove you all back to the highway. Carl sat in the back seat with you and yelled at his dad, "We have to turn around! We can't leave mom!"

Rick kept his eyes on the road, "All of us agreed that if anything happened we meet back at the highway, they will all be here soon."

After about 5 minutes there were other vehicles arriving at the highway and parking. Everyone got out of the cars and greeted each other and finally Daryl arrived on his motorcycle with Carol in the back. He pulled the bike to a stop almost right in front of you and asked, "So where we headed to?"

Rick sighed and answered him, "I was thinking the CDC..."

Carol got off Daryl's bike and went into the Rv for the trip to the CDC. You, without asking climbed on the back of Daryl's bike where Carol had been sitting before she went to the Rv. You slowly wrapped your arms around his waist and held on tight as Daryl started the bike and led the group to the CDC.

It was kinda a long trip there though because even though you were sitting behind Daryl on his bike... the bike was so loud you couldn't talk to him. You finally arrived at the CDC, it was a huge indestructible looking building. You and Daryl got off the Motorcycle and the rest of the group got out of the vehicles. All of you walked up to the CDC together and tried to open the door but it wouldn't open. Rick took a machete he had and tried to break the door in but it didn't even dent it.

Then you saw a camera move so you exclaimed to the group, "The camera moved!"

Rick turned to you, "The camera moved?"

You nodded, "I just saw it move."

Rick hit the door with his machete again and again while yelling, "Let us in! We know your in there! We saw the camera move!"

The door still did not move and walkers had started to come. Rick kept yelling though, "Come on your killing us! We're all going to die because of you!"

There was a creaking sound that came from within the building and then the door slowly opened. Everyone took one look around and then quickly went inside.

Inside a middle aged man greeted you he reached his hand out to Rick and shook his hand, "I'm Dr. Edwin Jenner... and you all are?"

Rick introduced Dr. Jenner to the group and then asked, "So how close are you to finding a cure?... and where is everyone?"

Dr. Jenner sighed, "I'm afraid I'm the only one left... the rest of the staff went home to their families and the ones who had no one to go home to... opted out... meaning committed suicide."

The doctor tried to be as straight forwards as possible as he led the group into the kitchen, he gestured with his hands, "Help yourselves."

Rick thanked the Doctor and then asked again, "And about the cure?..."

Edwin shook his head, "I'm afraid I haven't even come close yet..."

Rick nodded quietly before joining the rest of the group at the huge dinner table.

Daryl and T-dog went straight for the refrigerator and grabbed as many bottles of wine as they could manage. Then they brought them all back to the table and you rolled your eyes, "Men..."

Andrea laughed at your comment and grabbed a glass, pouring herself some wine.

You looked around at the group and was immediately confused, "Where's Shane?"

Rick looked up at you and answered, "He attacked me in the woods... He tried to kill me... I fought back and killed him instead... I had to... He was my best friend and I had to kill him..."

All the groups attention was immediately turned to Rick and all fell silent, in shock... Shane... was dead.

To try to break the awkwardness for Rick's sake you grabbed a glass for yourself and filled it to the top with wine. By this time everyone had filled a glass of wine for themselves and Lori and Rick even let little Carl take a sip.

When he did though, he spit it right back in his glass and made a disgusted face, "Eww that's terrible!"

Lori laughed and hugged Carl, "That's my boy."

You looked over to your right and saw that Daryl was right beside you. You were a bit surprised you hadn't noticed sooner. He wasn't even drinking out of a glass like everyone else but was drinking right out of the bottle. He was chugging it too. You had already finished your glass and you wanted more so you took the bottle out of Daryl's hands and laughed at his annoyed expression.

You said before you started drinking again, "I'm cutting you off Daryl."

Then you drank the rest of the wine right out of the bottle like he had been doing.

After you were finished, you immediately felt the effects of the booze. You were feeling very dizzy and you ended up leaning against Daryl who laughed at you, "We've gotta get ya ta a room little lady."

Andrea laughed at Daryl's comment, "Okay just leave her alone once you get her to that room."

The group laughed and Daryl rolled his eyes, "I didn't even mean it like that."

Daryl picked you up and took you into one of the bedrooms that Edwin had said were free to use. Daryl gently laid you on the bed and then laid down next to you.

Before long, you were both sound asleep.

In the morning...

All of you had woken up and went into the cafeteria again. Daryl was sitting on the table with his hands over his face he mumbled to you, "Dang... Ima get drunk again tonight."

You and him and even Glenn were hung over from the excessive amount of Alcohol you had consumed the previous night. Glenn was staring off into space when he said, "I'm never gonna drink again..."

The whole group erupted into laughter and then Edwin came in, "I can't remember, did I tell you that we have hot water incase you want to take a shower?"

Everyone's faces lit up as they ran back to their rooms. T-dog yelled, "Oh my Gosh! Hot water! My wish came true!"

You and Daryl ran back to your room and started fighting over who could take a shower first.

You looked up at him, "Ladies first so that means I'm going first!"

Daryl shook his head and said, "Not today, Cmon... I'm dirtier than you!"

You laughed, that one you couldn't argue, "Fine but make it quick!"

Daryl nodded and went into the bathroom. You heard the water running.

Ugh you couldn't believe you let him win! Though he kinda did need a shower more than you...

Finally after what seemed like forever Daryl exited the bathroom. He had only his clean pair of blue jeans and underwear on which meant he was shirtless. You tried to look away but it was hard. He must have caught you staring because he smiled and asked, "Will you get my clean shirt for me please?"

He pointed to the t-shirt with the sleeves cut off that was laying on the bed. You smiled and shook your head, "No, you have to get it yourself."

Daryl smiled and said, "Fine."

He went to walk around you but you got up off the bed and blocked his way. Daryl pushed you aside so he could reach for his shirt but you grabbed his shirt off the bed before he could.

You sat on the bed grinning at Daryl as he fussed at you, "Cmon Megan, give me my shirt."

You kept the smile on your face and replied to him, "Make me."

Daryl rolled his eyes, "Don't you wanna take a shower?"

You laughed at him and said, "Yea, but It can wait."

Daryl sighed and said, "Just give me my shirt and I'll let you off easy."

You shook your head, "Maybe I don't want to be let off easy."

Daryl smiled as he leaned on the bed towards you. You scooted backwards teasing him. He scooted himself up on the bed and gently laid his body on yours.

You pulled him down on you more and planted a soft kiss on his lips. He kissed you back. Then you both heard a voice, it was Carl standing in the doorway, "Um... Megan? Daryl? Edwin is holding a meeting in 2 hours."

Daryl got off of you and Carl stared wide-eyed Daryl asked him, "Why tell us two hours early little dude?"

Carl answered Daryl, "lunch is ready..."

Then Carl turned and headed towards the cafeteria.

You looked at Daryl and pulled him back down on you giving him another passionate kiss. Finally though you gave him his shirt and he put it on. Then you both went to the cafeteria to join the group.

When you got in there the group, well, Andrea and Carol were smiling at you. You looked confused as you went and sat by them. Once Daryl walked over to sit with the guys Andrea asked you, "So what's going on with you and Daryl?"

You laughed lightly, "I don't even know... I'm confused, why?"

Andrea smiled, "Because you're my best friend and I'm curious... plus... Carl informed us about him walking in on you and Daryl."

You laughed, "Kids..."

Lori looked at you with what appeared to be a glare. Yup, you was right... it was definitely a glare. She came over to you and pulled up a spare chair, sitting in it right next to you.

You looked at her, a bit confused, "Whats up?"

Lori didn't break her gaze on you instead she said, "Carl told me all about him walking in on you and Daryl."

You laughed trying to just shale it off, "Oh, no we weren't doing anything, just kissing and Daryl was trying to get his shirt back..."

Lori still looked suspicious, "He said Daryl was on top of you..."

You kinda kept grinning, "...He was... but not in that way..."

Lori still stared at you and said with anger now in her tone, "Well Carl seemed to know what was going on and I believe him... so be more careful next time... remember there ARE children around."

You were about to go off on Lori now but Andrea stuck up for you saying to Lori, "You know Lori, Megan is my best friend and if she says she and Daryl weren't doing it... then they're obviously not... And if they were then that is none of your business. Plus I bet they never expected Carl to walk in on them and if they did I'm sure they would be more careful. Even if they tried to be more careful, how could they? They were in the privacy of their own room... behind closed doors. Just saying maybe you shouldn't be sending Carl to check on people... he would have walked in on them like that if they were doing more than kissing. Guess who's fault that would be?... Yours!"

Andrea said it, your thoughts exactly. What a cool best friend you have.

Lori looked speechless, then she finally found words, "If that's how you see it... then I'm sorry... I guess I over reacted."

You smiled gently, "It's okay Lori, just next time know your facts before going around making accusations."

Lori nodded and then walked off to go be with Rick.

After you ate your lunch that consisted of a Brown Sugar ham sandwich and potato chips you went back to your room and took a shower with the luxurious hot water. When you got out, you got dressed and rejoined the group in the cafeteria. You looked at the clock and realized there was only 20 minutes left until Edwin's presentation.

You took a seat next to Daryl and said, "I wonder what Edwin wants to show us so bad."

Daryl shrugged, "I do not know..."

You were confused now about how he was acting towards you. He barely even looked at you as he talked. You put your hand on his right arm and asked him, "What is wrong with you?"

Daryl shrugged, "Nothin."

You were about to throw an attitude right back at Daryl but got interrupted by Edwin entering the cafeteria.

Edwin cleared his throat and looked around at the group, "Everyone follow me to the observatory."

Everyone in your group got up from where they were sitting and followed Edwin down the hallway, into the observatory.

When you got there, Dr. Edwin Jenner played a video on a large flat screened tv installed into the wall.

There was a brain and then black specks that spread throughout the brain untill the whole brain eventually turned totally black.

You asked Dr. Jenner, "So wait, what's going on here... I know it's a brain but..."

Edwin answered your question, "This patient was bitten and infected with the disease. This video shows the transformation of a normal human brain to the brain once a person is bitten when the disease takes over."

You and your group continued to watch the video. Then it finally went off. You turned to Edwin, "What happened there?"

Edwins eyes were filled with misery as he said, "I shot the patient in the head."

You slowly nodded, "The patient, they were important to you?"

Edwin nodded, "She was my wife..."

You looked at the ground and said quietly, "I'm sorry."

Edwin shook his head, "No, it's okay..."

T-dog pointed to a clock that was counting down, "Excuse me, Dr. Jenner... but I noticed that clock i'd counting down... what happens at zero?"

Jenner cleared his throat, "At zero, the building will self destruct..."

Then T-dog said to the group, "We've all got to get out of here! Or we're all going to die in 36 minutes!"

Everyone looked at each other in shock. Then all of you ran to the door of the observatory to leave. Just before you got to the door though, it closed and all of you were trapped in the observatory.

Daryl picked up a machete that had been resting against the wall. Then with all his strength, swung it at the door. It did absolutely nothing...

Dr. Jenner spoke up, "It's no use, those doors are strong enough to withstand a rocket launcher."

Daryl turned to Edwin angrily, "Yea well your head ain't!" Daryl then charged at the doctor, obviously ready to kill him but Rick and T-dog held him back. Rick tried to calm Daryl down, "Listen Daryl, Jenner is the only way we have out of here. We need him alive."

Daryl nodded still furious.

You walked over to Daryl and put a hand on his left arm. You were about to tell him to just sit and hold you but he turned to you. He had a big attitude now, "Don't touch me!" He jerked away from you and you were emotionally hurt.

You moved and looked into Daryl's angry icy blue eyes, "What is wrong with you? Ever since lunch..."

Daryl narrowed his gaze at you and said, "I just don't want to get close to you like that right now."

You were a little taken aback by his response, "Why?"

Daryl's gaze softened as he looked at you, "Because, neither one of us has a specific amount of time to live... and the more I'm around you, the more I fall in love with you. I need to distance myself from you because if I go on loving you this much... I won't be able to go on without you."

You were speechless, he was so sweet, "... That was the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me..."

He looked at you and smiled lightly, "Yea?"

You nodded.

Daryl smirked, "well maybe if we get outta here we can see if a relationship will happen between us." Daryl paused a minute, "Deal?"

You smiled, "Deal."

Edwin was sitting at his computer desk doing nothing to get your group out of the observatory. You wanted out even more now knowing Daryl might become yours. You walked up to Edwin and ordered him, "You open these doors now! You hear me?"

Edwin nodded slowly, "I understand but I just don't know if I can make it happen."

You looked at him with anger, "Make it happen... Now."

Edwin typed some things into the computer and the door slowly slid open, you looked at the clock, 6 minutes left.

You and everyone in your group ran to the front doors of the CDC. They wouldn't open so you all went for a window. You couldn't even get that open and then Glenn remembered something.

"Hey Rick? Remember when you were stuck in that sub? Well I kept something you found in case we could use it." Glenn pulled a pressure bomb out of his pocket and handed it to the sheriff.

Rick eagerly took the pressure bomb and threw it at the window, as he threw it he yelled, "Everyone get down!" Everyone ducked behind the staircase and Rick ducked behind the staircase right after he threw the bomb.

The window shattered and glass flew everywhere, the only reason you were all okay was the staircase blocked the glass from flying at you. Rick looked at the time, "One minute and 15 seconds, let's go!"

All of you ran out of the CDC through the now broken window. There were only a few walkers around so you just ran past them and to the vehicles and Daryl's motorcycle. Everyone got in either one of the three cars or the Rv. You and Daryl though, got on his Motorcycle and led the way back to the highway.

At the Highway...

Daryl pulled his bike over and you hopped off. You turned around and waited for the rest of the group to come. Within a few minutes, everyone had arrived at the Highway. Then they all got out of their cars and the Rv and gathered around Daryl's motorcycle.

You joined them around Daryl's bike and you all started talking. Daryl asked, "Well, where are we gonna go now?"

Rick sighed, "I don't really know of where to go... Why don't we just travel up the road some and see what we find?"

Daryl nodded, "Right sounds good ta me."

Everyone returned to the vehicles they had arrived at the highway in and you jumped back on Daryl's bike. Then Daryl drove ahead of everyone, leading the way up the highway. You put your arms around his waist so you wouldn't fall. It seemed like forever but you all finally came to this stone wall with a paved area, it looked like at one time before the apocalypse the place might have been a camp ground.

Daryl drove his motorcycle up onto the pavement and parked it. Sure enough, it was an old campsite. There was a small fire pit in the middle of the pavement. There was also some old logs sitting around the fire pit for campers to sit on.

You turned to Daryl, "We got the tents in the Rv."

Daryl nodded, "Yea, we should camp out here."

You looked over and saw the Rv being parked at the side of the road along with the other cars. Then the rest of the group got out of the vehicles and walked up to you and Daryl.

You announced to them, "We think this could be a good place to rest up until we know where we're going..."

Rick nodded, "Yea, I'll need some help getting the tents from the Rv."

T-dog, Andrea, Daryl, You, and Rick all went back to the Rv, each of you grabbed one tent and took it back over to the camp site.

Once the tents were all set up, you all started to get settled in.

Rick made an announcement, "Every tent needs to have at least two people for protection."

Everyone nodded and went off to decide on what tent they wanted to share and with who.

Rick, Carl, and Lori shared a tent.

Andrea and Carol shared a tent.

You and Daryl shared a tent.

Glenn and T-dog shared a tent.

Maggie and Hershel shared a tent.

You and Daryl walked into your tent together and you laid out the sleeping bags, one for you and one for him. You turned around to see and hear Daryl zipping up the tent after you. Now you were confused. You sat on your sleeping bag and just looked at him. Finally he came over and sat on his sleeping bag across from you.

You smiled at him and he smirked, he said, "So we got outta there..."

You grinned, "Yea, we did... so now what?"

Daryl leaned forwards and planted a kiss on you. You kissed him back, you wrapped your arms around his neck and leaned back, pulling him down with you. You looked up at him and smiled, he had some stubble growing along his jaw line which you found very sexy.

His lips were only inches away from yours. Then he came down as you came up and you started kissing again which turned into a full on make out session.

He took his shirt off and you just stared at his amazingly flawless body you kissed him passionately and pushed him up off of you. He got up and stood with his back against the tent. You got up off the sleeping bags and walked over to Daryl... You looked at him for a minute then you put both your hands on his chest and crashed your lips against his.

Sparks flew! Daryl wrapped his arms around your waist and you continued to make out. Neither one of you were paying attention though so you and Daryl backed against the wall of the tent and before you could get your balance... you heard a creaking noise coming from the tent supports and then a second later, the tent collapsed. You and Daryl fell down with it and you landed on top of Daryl.

You looked at him in shock... whoops :)


	8. Chapter 8

You got off of Daryl and you both got up slowly from under the wreckage of the tent.

Lori looked at you along with the rest of the group but she actually spoke up and said something, "Oh don't try to get us to believe the two of you weren't doing anything."

Andrea crossed her arms while laughing, "Leave them alone Lori, it was an accident."

You were red with embarrassment now, you couldn't believe the whole tent came down. Though you couldn't really blame Lori this time, since the whole tent came down...

You looked at Daryl and smirked as you asked, "Help me put the tent back up?"

Daryl looked embarrassed as well, he stretched and nodded, "Yea."

You and Daryl went and set the tent back up and within a half an hour, it was good as new and Daryl's crossbow was right where he had left it on the floor of the tent. You walked in the tent and rearranged the sleeping bags. Daryl went inside the tent with you and snuggled down in his sleeping bag.

You went over to the door of the tent and zipped it up for the night because it was getting late. Before you zipped up the door though, you looked out to see everyone else heading to their tents for the night. You sighed to yourself and zipped the door completely. After that was taken care of you went over and climbed into your sleeping bag.

As you snuggled down ready to go to sleep you looked over at Daryl, you smiled, "Night Daryl."

Daryl smiled back gently, "Night Megan."

In the morning...

You looked over at Daryl's sleeping bag and you saw no Daryl. Plus his crossbow was gone. You got out of your sleeping bag and got dressed for the day. When you came out of the tent, you saw all your friends gathered around the fire pit.

You walked over to join them and took a seat beside Daryl. You gave him a good morning hug and he hugged you back then you felt like someone was staring at you. You looked over, it was Lori. You looked back at her, meeting her gaze. This made her quickly look away.

You were super confused now, what was her problem? You shrugged it off as nothing and spoke to Rick, "Do you know where we're going next yet?"

Rick nodded, "I went on a drive this morning to find a place we could stay at longer and I found a log cabin back in the woods... It's empty and looks pretty safe and secure. Although a few windows were busted open, we'll see if we can fix that though."

You nodded, "When are we leaving?"

Rick replied, "We will as soon as we get the tents and everything packed up."

You all helped pack up luggage and tents and then put in all in the Rv. You jumped on the back of Daryl's bike and he got up front. Then you tagged Along to the small line of cars following the Rv to the cabin Rick had talked about.

After surprisingly not too long you arrived at the cabin.

You got off Daryl's motorcycle and joined the group at the cabins front door with Daryl following close behind you.

Rick turned the doorknob slowly and when he finally opened the door you all ran inside. You immediately ran upstairs and got up there before anyone else. You shouted down the stairs, "I'm picking our room Daryl!"

You heard Daryl laugh at you as he moved about doing whatever downstairs.

Then you heard footsteps behind you. You quickly turned and pulled the gun that Rick had intrusted you with out of the back pocket of your jeans pointing it at whoever had startled you.

You sighed as you realized it was only Lori. You put the gun back in your pocket and smiled kindly at the woman, laughing a bit at your actions, "I'm sorry, can I help you?"

Lori didn't smile back or even attempt to she just stood there with her hands on her hips, "So you and Daryl are sharing a room now huh?"

You sighed, what was Lori's problem?

You paused for a minute and just stared at Lori, "Yea... you care why?..."

Lori rolled her eyes at you and said, "He is 9 years older than you."

You nodded, annoyed, "Point?"

Lori just looked at you, "I doubt he even really likes you. He just likes what you do with him..."

You looked shocked, "W-what? We haven't even done anything... he cares about me... a lot."

Lori snorted at you, "Don't even try to hide the fact of what you were doing when that tent came down."

You rolled your eyes, "We were only making out!"

Lori rolled her eyes back at you, "Whatever, you just can't see that Daryl needs a real woman."

You just stood there, staring at Lori then Lori left the room and marched down the hall.

You laid down on the only bed in the room and curled up. You felt like crying and gave into the feeling. Though you tried to stop crying and calm down when someone came in the room and sat down beside you on the bed.

It was Daryl. You sat up and hid your face in your hands. You didn't want him to see you cry. You just couldn't calm down though. Was Lori after Daryl?

Daryl put one of his hands on your back and pulled you into him. You moved your hands away from your face and hugged Daryl. He smiled until he saw you were crying. When he did see that you were crying he looked at you, concerned, "What's wrong Megan?"

You tried to calm yourself down more. Great, he had seen you crying. You just shook your head, "Nothing..."

Daryl knew you were trying to cover something up though so he just sat there on the bed and held you. He whispered in your ear, "You know you can tell me anything right?"

You nodded, "Yea, I just don't know if I feel like talking about it..."

Daryl nodded, "It's alright... if you ever do want to talk about it though, I'm here."

You smiled, "That's sweet."

You felt Daryl tense up at your words. He even released you from the hug. You looked at him, wondering what was going on, you asked him, "Whats wrong?"

He shook his head, "No one has ever told me that before."

You paused at this moment, not knowing what to say. You did know though that Daryl didn't like it when people felt bad for him. This made it even harder for you to decide what to say to him. You came up with something eventually, "Well someone has told you that now."

You smiled and leaned over to him, planting a passionate kiss on his lips. Daryl leaned in and kissed you back, he smiled sweetly at you and said, "That's true."

After you finished kissing Daryl got up off the bed and hugged you. Then he left the room and went off to do something downstairs.

You were left alone on your bed. You just thought to yourself. 'Daryl cares about me so much, it's so obvious. Plus he hadn't even asked you to do anything with him yet. Lori is so wrong, she is just jealous of you because you have Daryl. Lori don't even know the relationship you have with Daryl.'

You smiled to yourself, Daryl meant so much to you. You didn't know what you would do without him. You didn't want to think about what you would do without him.

You laid back down on your bed just staring at your ceiling until you heard two people yelling at each other the next room over.

It was Rick and Lori. Lori sounded like she was crying. You could clearly make out what they were saying.

Rick: "You cheated on me with Shane!"

Lori: *crying* "Yes, I'm sorry it was a mistake!"

Rick: "No you're not sorry! You were sorry when you cheated with him when you thought I was dead... cheating with him after I came to the group and found you and Carl was a different story Lori!"

Lori: *Screaming* "I said I was sorry Rick! Okay?! I don't know what I was thinking!"

Rick: *Yelling* "Sorry don't cut it Lori! You knew I was okay, you knew I was alive!"

Lori: "What do you want me to do?"

Rick: "Do you love Shane?"

Lori: "... It don't matter anymore Rick, you killed Shane! He's dead!"

Rick: "I had to Lori! He was trying to kill me! Did you love him before I killed him?! Don't you lie to me!"

Lori: "... I did..."

Rick: "I can't believe this Lori, we're done!"

You heard Rick stomp out of the room and go downstairs. You wanted really badly to go check on him, see if he was okay. The discovery that Lori loved Shane had hit him hard. Rick was one of your best friends. He had been your friend ever since you joined the group. You sighed, you needed to go check on him and see if he was okay.

You went downstairs and walked past Daryl. Though you didn't really walk past him because he grabbed you by your right arm, making you stop. He smiled and asked you, "Where ya goin?"

You looked up at him and answered, "I'm going to go check on Rick."

Daryl nodded, "That might be a good idea, I heard him and Lori arguing upstairs... I think everyone heard them arguing."

You were really upset, you asked Daryl, "How about Carl?"

Daryl shook his head, "As soon as Rick and Lori started yelling, Andrea took Carl out front to play catch."

You nodded and then went to find Rick.

You soon discovered that he wasn't even in the cabin. You went outside to look for him and noticed his truck was gone.

You were a bit worried about him now. You knew it wasn't good for someone to drive when they were as upset as Rick must be. You saw Andrea and Carl standing off to the side of the front yard. They were throwing a baseball to each other.

You went up to Andrea and asked her, "Hey, do you know where Rick went?"

Andrea hesitated a moment in thought, "I'm not for sure, but there's a bar up the road a ways... he could be there. Why?"

You answered Andrea, "Cause I'm worried about him and I am trying to find him so I can talk to him."

Andrea nodded and tossed you a pair of car keys which you caught easily. Andrea pointed to an older looking rusted red car, "You can take my car if you want."

You smiled and thanked your friend. Then you walked over to her car, hopped in, and drove away up to the bar Andrea had mentioned.

When you got there, sure enough, Ricks truck was parked in front of the run-down building. You parked Andrea's car next to Rick's truck and got out of te car to go into the building. You walked in and saw Rick going through the wine supply that was left. You went up to the Sheriff, staying a safe distance away incase he thought you were someone you weren't. You asked Rick to let him know you were there, "Find anything good?"

Rick must have known it was you because he didn't seemed surprised by your presence at all. He just shook his head slightly, "No, not so far... someone else must have come by before and took what they wanted."

You agreed, "Probably, especially at a time like this."

Rick laughed lightly at you, "True, why don't you help me look?"

You laughed back, "Alright." You went over and squatted by the sheriff, looking through the bars remaining supply of wine. Finally you found something that caught your eye. You pulled the bottle off the shelf and showed it to Rick, you could have sworn you saw a trace of a smile on his lips.

You asked him, "1996 vintage?"

Rick let the smile play out on his face, "Heck ya!"

You laughed at his excitement and grabbed two glasses from the shelf. Then you filled both the glasses to the top, one for you and one for him. The bottle hadn't even been opened. The people who had been there before you must have just overlooked it.

You and Rick sat at the counter, drinking together like you might have before the apocalypse broke out. Rick looked at you and took another drink before speaking, "You know, I can't believe it, I mean... I understand Lori and Shane when they both thought I was dead... but seriously? After I came to the group and they know I'm just fine?"

You could see Rick was upset and was trying to blow off steam. You looked at the sheriff and tried to make him feel better, "Lori was being plain stupid Rick. God only knows what was going on through that womans head when she cheated on you after you came to the group. She didn't know a good thing when she had it. If she did, she wouldn't have hurt you. She would have forgotten about Shane the moment she saw you again."

Your attempt on making Rick feel better had worked. He smiled at you as he took another drink of his wine. Then he said to you, "Thank you Megan, for being a true friend."

Rick looked off at the back wall of the bar looking deep in thought. Then he turned to you, "Do you really think I'm a good man for someone to have?" He mumbled the question a bit, as if he was unsure if he should ask it.

You smiled at him and nodded, "I really do Rick, I mean you are handsome and nice and sweet and really smart and just overall a great guy."

Rick smirked at you and you didn't know what it was about so you asked him, "What?"

He just laughed at you then, "That was a lot of 'ands' in my description."

You laughed back, "Well there are a lot of good things about you."

Rick smiled and said, "You know, Daryl's lucky to have you.

You blushed a bit, "Oh I don't know if I would say that..."

Rick nodded, "It's true, you treat him so good. The way he looks at you Megan, he hasn't ever looked at anyone like that. At least not since he joined the group."

You smiled, "Well thanks, that means a lot."

Rick smiled back at you, "Anytime, do you think we should go back to the cabin now?"

You nodded and sighed, "We probably should."

You both got up from where you were sitting and Rick went to his truck. You went to Andrea's car. Then you both drove back to the cabin. When you got back, you parked the car in the driveway behind Rick's truck and you both got out of the vehicles. You looked over to the area of the yard where Andrea and Carl had been when you left. They weren't there now so they must have went inside.

You followed Rick into the cabin and when you stepped inside you shut and locked the door behind you. Then you felt two muscular arms wrap around your waist.

You turned around and sure enough it was Daryl. You smiled at him and he leaned down to kiss you. You were kissing right there and then you heard someone cough... It unfortunately was Lori.

You looked at her, clearly annoyed at her presence, "What do you want?"

Lori just glared at you, "Rick wanted to know if you would go out hunting for the group."

You just looked at her, "Really? Rick wants me to go out alone and hunt?"

Lori nodded, "That's what he told me."

Something about this just didn't seem right to you, you doubted Rick even talked to Lori after their argument.

You looked at Lori in disbelief, "I doubt Rick even talked to you. I'll just go talk to him myself."

Lori jumped in your way as you were trying to go past her to talk to Rick in the family room. You rolled your eyes at her and pushed her aside. Then you walked over to Rick who was having an in depth conversation with Andrea. You just stood there and waited patiently until they were done talking and Andrea walked away. Then you asked Rick, "Did you want me to go hunting for the group?"

Rick hesitated for a short moment, "... no... why?"

You looked puzzled, "Lori told me you wanted me to go out hunting for the group by myself and I was a little skeptical so I asked you."

Rick nodded and said, "Yea, I would never have you go hunting by yourself... don't ever take orders from Lori. Always come to me, ok?"

You nodded, "Alright."

You went up to your room and laid down on your bed. This place was beginning to feel like home. Which wasn't entirely good because it seemed like whenever the group got comfortable somewhere, it seemed like the walkers always found the place. Then the group would have to leave and go somewhere new.

Rick had been in a state of depression over Lori ever since their argument a week ago. The only people in the group Rick would open up to was you and Andrea. Sometimes, Rick wouldn't even talk to either of you. When he got like that, you just left him alone with his thoughts.

You heard footsteps coming from down the hall. You sighed and sat up, Daryl was standing in the doorway. You smiled, "Well hello handsome..."

Daryl smirked and walked over to you, he than sat on the bed beside you. He turned so he would be facing you and then slowly leaned into you. You started making out and then you heard a gunshot.

You and Daryl paused right where you were. Daryl then pulled away from you and got off the bed and went to the window while putting his shirt back on.

He looked out the window for a moment before turning to you shaking his head, annoyed. "Lori is out front practicing shooting on a tree."

You rolled your eyes, "She's going to attract all the walkers in the area."

Daryl nodded, "She's outside by herself, it's a surprise no one has stopped her yet."

You nodded, "Yea.. should we go stop her?"

Daryl nodded, "Maybe we should... before the walkers come."

You grabbed Daryl's left hand and you and him walked downstairs and out the front door. Once you were outside you walked over to Lori. She was reloading her gun when you got to her. When you did get to her you said, "Lori! Please put the gun down!"

Lori looked at you and rolled her eyes as she put the gun down, "Why?"

You was ticked off now, "Because, if you don't... you will attract every walker in the area!"

Lori stomped off and to the house. You picked her gun up off the ground and handed it to Daryl. Daryl took the gun from you and threw it in the air, skillfully catching it by the handle.

You had been watching to see if he would catch it and when he did, you smirked and said, "That's sexy."

Daryl laughed and kissed you, when he pulled away he smirked and said, "Thanks."

You heard groaning coming from the woods, you turned to see tons of walkers emerging from the woods and heading to the cabin. You turned to Daryl and you both ran into the cabin because you didn't have any weapons with you.

Once you were in the cabin Daryl ran to your room and grabbed his crossbow along with some other weapons. You ran around the cabin yelling at people, "Grab weapons and head to the cars! Walkers are coming!"

Finally, everyone had at least one weapon with them so you all went outside to fight the walkers.

When you got outside, the walkers had moved even closer to the cabin. They were almost blocking the cars and Daryl's motorcycle. You aimed the revolver Daryl had given you and started firing at the walkers. You took them down easily.

Daryl had his crossbow and he was standing his ground, taking out all the walkers around him.

You heard someone scream and you looked around. Finally you spotted Lori getting surrounded by walkers. You rolled your eyes, you couldn't just let her get bit. You did wonder though, where on earth was her weapon?

You walked over to where she was screaming like a defenseless child. Gosh, she was a grown woman... couldn't she act grown up?

Ha and she said Daryl needed a grown woman! Well Lori, who's behaving like a grown woman now?!

Lori looked up at you, no walker was close enough to bite her... yet. You shot down all the walkers around poor defenseless Lori. She stood up and thanked you with a smile. You, however, did not smile at all, you just nodded and handed her the spare handgun that you had stuck in your back pocket. It was the one Rick had given you. As you handed the handgun over to Lori you said, "Take care of it... it's Rick's."

Lori took the gun and just stared at it. You smirked, yep you had upset her... mission accomplished. You walked away from Lori. Then you raised your revolver into shooting position and began to shoot down more walkers. Finally, all the walkers up by the cabin were dead.

You looked out into the woods and saw a whole other group of the walkers coming. You yelled to the group, "Everyone get in a vehicle, now! We gotta get outta here, more walkers are coming!"

Everyone scurried for the cars and got in safely. You and Daryl, though ran and got on his bike. You then took off after the rest of the group. Rick was leading the way with his truck to who knows where.

You all drove a pretty long distance. Then you drove past a mall. You must have not been the only one to see it, although it was kinda hidden by trees that had grown up in front of it. Rick most definitely had seen it though because the sheriff drove his truck into the malls parking lot and parked. The Rv followed and then Andreas car and then Glenn's car. Last but not least, Daryl drove his bike into the parking lot and parked it by Glenns car.

You and Daryl got off the motorcycle and waited for the rest of the group. Once the rest of the group had gotten out of the Rv and the cars and Ricks truck, all of you walked up to the entrance of the mall.

Daryl pushed on the door and it swung open. He turned to the group and smiled, "Well, it's not locked."

You all laughed and entered the building. The lights were out but came flickering on when T-dog accidentally leaned against the light switch.

T-dog even made a joke, "Hey guys I found the lights"

All of you laughed at his joke. You looked around the building. From where you were standing, it only appeared to be a small mall. Good news was though that there were no walkers there.

Another good thing was that there was clothes there that were good condition. That would make up for all the clothes your group lost when you all had to immediately flee the cabin.

You walked around looking for rooms that could be used as a bedroom. You finally found a room that had an over abundance of clothing. One throw back though, was there was a steel gate blocking the entrance to the room. Most likely for security reasons. You grumbled to yourself, this room alone would provide great protection from walkers.

You shook the gate but it wouldn't open. Finally you found the latch you tried to lift it up but it wouldn't budge. You had enough of this gate. So you backed up and ran tight at it, then you jumped up and kicked the latch as hard as you could. You heard something pop in the steel gate and then you tried again to pull the gate open.

Luckily this time when you tried to pull it open, it came open easily. You walked in and looked around the room. Everything was in perfect condition. It was really dusty in there but that wasn't a problem. You sat down your revolver on the ground and continued to look around the room.

You found the women's section of clothes and headed over there. They had some of the coolest skinny jeans ever. They also had some sweet t-shirts. You grabbed about 10 pairs of jeans and 10 t-shirts in your size.

Then you took them into the dressing room.

You tried them all on and they all fit perfectly. You walked out and went up to the checkout area in the store you were currently in. You looked behind the desk and grabbed a large fabric shopping bag. You threw all the clothes you wanted into it and sat the bag beside your revolver.

You walked out of the store and saw that everyone else in your group was now messing with the latches on the steel gates to get into different stores.

You saw that Andrea and Rick were trying to get in a room...

Wait... were Andrea and Rick sharing a room?

So you stood there, wondering what could be going on between two of your best friends. You walked over to them, "Both of you back up and clear out of my way."

Andrea and Rick looked confused but they did what you said. Then you backed up and ran at the gate, you jumped into the air and kicked the gates latch. There again was a popping sound coming from in the steel. You backed up and slid the room open.

Rick and Andrea thanked you and walked into their room.

After you had assisted them, you went around and kicked the latches on each gate to them to open. Within 20 minutes you had each store in the mall open. Therefore everyone had somewhere to stay in the mall as long as there were two people per store.

You thought it was still early by the way it looked outside.

You decided to go back to your room. When you got there, Daryl was there cleaning off his crossbow with a ripped piece of clothing. You went over and sat next to him, "Hey I'm going to go out and see what all is around here. Come?"

Daryl nodded, "Yea..." He slung his crossbow over his right shoulder and stood up. You smiled at him and you both went to his motorcycle. You climbed on and took off. There was a gas station up the road just a little ways. Daryl parked his bike in front of the gas station and you both went it. You reached over with your left hand and held Daryl's right hand. That's how you walked into the gas station.

Once you got in the small store, you let go of Daryl's hand and walked around the place exploring. You found some gum and stuffed it in your back pocket. Then you went to look for Daryl, it didn't take you long to find him though. He was over by the cigarettes. You walked up to him and he was lighting a cigarette. He turned to you and smiled then he stuck his lit cigarette in his mouth and puffed on it.

Daryl handed you a cigarette and the lighter, offering you a smoke. Now see, normally you wouldn't smoke, you had only smoked once before in your life when you were out with your friends before the apocalypse. It didn't even matter anymore though, the world had come to an end. Plus you didn't want to seem like a wuss to Daryl.

You took the cigarette from him and lit it. Then you stuck it in your mouth and smoked it until it went out. Daryl had tucked one behind his left ear to save for later. You sighed, your uncle had died at a young age from smoking.

Once Daryl's cigarette went out you went up to him, standing directly in front of him.

He was holding the cigarette pack and was about to grab another cigarette from it. Before he could though, you said, "No." Then you took the pack out of his hands along with the lighter. You put them both in your back pocket then looked back up at Daryl who was still standing there looking confused. You smiled and ran your hands up and down his chest, you looked into his eyes as you did so and told Daryl, "There's better things to do..."

Five hours later...

You and Daryl had just pulled up into the mall parking lot on his motorcycle. When you both walked into the mall, you went straight to the restroom to clean up as much as you could. You thought to yourself, wow, this place really needed a shower.

After giving it thought you decided to go talk to your best friend Andrea. You went to her and Ricks room and you saw Andrea was there by herself. That was a good thing. You walked over to Andrea and sat down beside her. She smiled and asked, "Whats up?"

You sighed, "I need my best friend..."

Andrea nodded, "I'm right here, what did you want to talk about?"

You ran your hands through your hair, "Well... you know how me and Daryl were gone for a while earlier?"

Andrea nodded and then gasped, "You and him... you know... did it?"

You nodded and hid your face in your hands.

Andrea laughed at you, "Its okay Megan..."

You shook your head, "It was to awkward on the way back here and he hasn't talked to me since. I'm worried what if I lost him?..." A tear ran down your cheek at the thought you didn't mean to Daryl what he meant to you.

Andrea tried to calm you down, she put her right hand on your back and pulled you into her for a hug, "Some men get weird like that sweetie, he'll come around sooner or later..."

You nodded trying to calm yourself down.

After a moment of silence Andrea asked, "...where did you guys go?"

You kinda smirked, "The gas station..."

Andrea laughed, "The gas station?"

You were cracking up now, "...yea..."

Andrea was still laughing.

Then Rick walked in the room and saw you and Andrea talking. He greeted you and walked up to you and Andrea and sat down, "What are you ladies gossiping about?"

Andrea looked at you, asking if she could tell. You shook your head and laughed. Andrea laughed with you and Rick kept looking between you two, "Whats so funny?"

You laughed as you got up, "Nothing."

Then you walked out of the room and then walked back to the room you and Daryl shared.

When you got to your room, you went and made a pile of soft clothes on the floor. You only used clothes you thought were ugly though. Then after you made a comfy pile, you laid down on it and went to sleep.

The next morning you woke up and saw Daryl laying beside you. You smiled and got up. You then went to the restroom and used the toilet. Then washed your hands. Thank God this little mall still had water!

Once you came out of the restroom, Daryl was awake and getting dressed. He was shirtless and just putting his blue jeans on. You watched as he fastened his belt. Then you looked up at his body.

He caught you looking and smirked, "Like what ya see?"

You smiled almost in laughter and nodded, "Yea, gets me every time."

Daryl laughed and asked, "Did it get you last night?"

You blushed uncontrollably and walked past Daryl to exit the room. Daryl chased after you though. He grabbed your right arm and stopped you, then he turned you around so you would be facing him. He leaned over you and smirked, "Your blushing..."

You laughed and blushed harder, "I am not!"

With that, you jerked free of Daryl's grip and left the room. You walked outside and picked up a thick twig that had snapped off a tree off the ground. You took the knife Daryl had given you and slipped it out of your belt loop. Then you started peeling the bark off of the twig.

You were deep in thought...

You were in love with Daryl Dixon...


	9. Chapter 9

You decided the twig couldn't be cut anymore, you held it up to examine it, sure enough it was toothpick thin.  
You got bored with it and broke it in half. You kinda jumped when you heard a voice behind you.  
"Hey there beautiful."  
You turned around and smiled, it was Daryl. He looked at the shavings of the twig on the ground and pointed with a soft grin on his face, "Get bored?"  
You laughed and nodded, "Yea..."  
Daryl smirked and you stood up, "What?"  
He shook his head and said in a sexy voice, "I can keep ya entertained..."  
You smiled, "How ya planning to do that?"  
Daryl smiled and reached his left hand into one of the back pockets of your jeans. He pulled out the pack of cigarettes you had taken from him the night before along with his lighter. After taking the cigarettes and lighter from you, he lot a cigarette and stuck the other end in his mouth. He took it out and puffed in your face with a smirk, "I've got an idea..."  
You coughed when he puffed the smoke in your face playfully. You got a confused look on your face until you realized what his 'idea' might be. You smiled at him and asked, "Would I be able to guess what that idea is?"  
Daryl laughed and took the cigarette out of his mouth. He dropped it on the ground and stomped on it to put it out. He looked up and smiled at you, "Nope..."  
Then Daryl ran off into the woods. You laughed and ran after him. You were pretty fast because even with the apocalypse going on, you made sure to stay in shape.  
Daryl still had a huge lead on you because the fact you were slowed down by your uncontrollable laughter. Finally, he made a turn somewhere up ahead and you lost track of him. You kept running forwards, hoping you might be able to find where he went. You couldn't find him and you were about to yell for Daryl when two hands came from behind you and wrapped around your mouth.  
You heard a voice coming from behind you, "Dont scream, yer fine."  
You smiled, you'd recognize that voice anywhere, it was Daryl. You nodded and Daryl released you. When you turned around, you saw Daryl was grinning mischievously.  
You laughed at him, "Oh no, what's your idea?"  
Daryl smirked and asked in a sexy tone, "Yer not scared of needles are ya?"  
You waited a moment to answer him, trying to figure out what he was up to. You gave up and nodded your head slowly.  
A sly grin crossed Daryl's face. He grabbed your right hand with his left hand and started running to God knows where. You trusted Daryl though, so you just ran with him.  
After not too long of running, you came across a strong but sturdy shack. Before you could look to see what the place was, Daryl let go of your right hand and put both of his hands over your eyes. Then he led you inside the shack and had you set down in a chair. After you were sitting he uncovered your eyes and stepped back.  
You looked around the place in wonder. Then you discovered, it was a tatoo shack! You saw the wall was covered with different tatoo designs. You looked over to the right of you and saw Daryl standing there... With a tatoo gun. He smiled at you and you smiled back, nervously.  
Daryl pressed a button on the chair you were sitting on and it reclined back. Now you were laying on your back on the chair. Daryl pulled up a chair next to you and cleaned off the tatoo gun. You then knew what he was going to do, "You're giving me a tatoo aren't you?"  
Daryl smiled and nodded.  
You rolled your eyes, "How do you know that stuff isn't contaminated?"  
Daryl laughed at you, "Cause when I found this place, it was secure and all the windows and doors were locked. I had ta break in. Also when I got in here, everything was locked up in a cabinet. I had ta break the cabinet open too. Then all of the supplies were brand new and secure in their original boxes which I had ta open. So everything is perfectly safe... I promise."

You smiled and nodded, "Okay I believe you, you promise me that none of it is contaminated?"  
Daryl sighed, "Yes, Megan I promise. Do you really think I would take a risk with you?"  
You shook your head, "No..."  
Daryl said, "Then just trust me, I wouldn't ever do anything that could hurt you."  
You smiled and said reassuringly, "I know..."  
Then you leaned over and planted a passionate kiss on Daryl's lips. He kissed you back and you almost started making out. Daryl stopped himself though, he pulled away and laughed, "You can't be distracting me like that or your tatoo will never get done."  
You sighed, "Fine... making out can wait..."  
Daryl laughed, "I know it will be hard but we have to control ourselves."  
You nodded, "I guess... so what tatoo am I getting?"  
Daryl smiled and showed you the tatoo he was going to give you.  
It was pretty cool actually, was simple too. It was just Daryl's name in a thin, but fancy black font.

You smiled, you absolutely loved it. You asked Daryl, "So... where do you plan on putting this tatoo?"  
Daryl smirked, "What ya sayin?"  
You laughed, "What I'm asking you is, if you could put that tatoo anywhere on my body... Where would you pick?"  
Daryl laughed, "If I tell you, then can I put it there?"  
You laughed, "Maybe..."  
Daryl was still laughing, "Maybe? I don't think I'm gonna tell ya then."  
You smiled, "Fine. Put it on my right shoulder."  
Daryl nodded and wiped off your right shoulder. Then he gave you a kiss and you kissed him back. He said to you, "When I start giving ya the tatoo, it might sting a little so... don't be a wuss." Daryl winked at you.  
You laughed when he winked. Then you yelled at him playfully, "I'm not going to be a wuss!" You paused for a minute and then said, "That wink was very sexy."  
Daryl laughed at you and said, "Don't distract me unless ya want yer tatoo ta look like a blob."  
You laughed at him, "Nah... I'd rather have your name as a tatoo... I'll make you a deal though..."  
Daryl smirked, "What?"  
You smiled even though you knew this deal probably wouldn't work, "If you take your shirt off, I won't distract you anymore."  
Daryl laughed as he took his shirt off, "Fine, but only because I know how much you love to stare at my body."  
You nodded and stared at his body, once he took his shirt off. You couldn't stop staring as you said, "Yea... that would be true."  
Daryl laughed at you then he plugged the tatoo gun into the wall and cleaned off your right shoulder real good. He picked up the gun and counted to three, "Okay... one... two... three!"  
You felt a slight sting in your shoulder from the tatoo gun injecting ink into your skin. You didn't let Daryl know that it stung though, mostly because you didn't want him calling you a wuss.  
There was hundreds of more little injections of ink into your right shoulder. Not even one of the injections of ink failed to sting at least a little bit.  
Finally, Daryl announced to you, "Okay, it's finished, I just have to clean it up."  
Daryl opened a box of wet ones and wiped off the access ink from your right shoulder. Then he smiled at you, "Okay, you can look at it now."  
You looked over to your right shoulder and saw the tatoo. You really did love it. It was Daryl's name, on your shoulder. That meant he was yours and you were his, forever.  
Daryl then looked in the cabinet and brought out a roll of plastic wrap. He tore off a piece and wrapped it around your right shoulder.  
You were wondering what it was for, "Whats the wrap for?" you asked.  
Daryl answered you, "It's ta keep it from getting infected. Ya should keep it on til the tatoo heals which will take bout a week."  
You nodded and got up off the chair. You looked over at Daryl and smiled excitedly, "Its your turn!"  
Daryl laughed and shook his head, "Ya don't even know what yer doin."  
You laughed, "Yes I do, I just learned a lot from you. Please, please, please can I give you a tatoo?"  
Daryl sighed, "Fine, I want it on my left shoulder blade."  
You smiled, "Okay, get in the chair Mr. Dixon." You pointed to the chair that Daryl made you sit in when you were getting your tatoo.  
Daryl laughed and walked over to the chair. Once he sat down he asked, "What new tatoo am I gettin?"  
You smiled, "Your getting a tatoo of my name."  
Daryl nodded but then asked, "What is your last name?"  
You then realized when you came to the group, you never told anyone your last name. Your last name was pretty cool and you never meant to not tell anyone what it was. You just totally forgot. Not that it was really that important but Daryl asked which reminded you no one in your group knew your last name. You looked at Daryl, "I can't believe I forgot to tell the group, my last name is Moon."  
Daryl nodded, "That's a really pretty name, Megan Moon... I like it."  
You smiled as you asked, "Enough to make it a tatoo?"  
Daryl nodded, "Yup."  
You laughed, "Okay, turn and lay on your stomach."  
Daryl turned around and laid on his stomach. You then got a wet one put of the wet ones container and wiped Daryl's left shoulder blade with the wet one. Once his left shoulder blade was clean, you said to him teasingly, "Okay, I'm about to start, now, don't be a wuss."  
Daryl laughed and said, "I'm no wuss. Trust me."  
You laughed and looked at him, "Yea, I know... but you don't even think it stings a little to get a tatoo?"  
Daryl laughed again, "Well kinda but this is gonna be my fourth one so I'm used ta it."  
You nodded, "Well, I'm starting now."  
Daryl nodded, "Alright."  
You started out slowly giving Daryl his tatoo. Once you got the hang of it though, which didn't take long. You started working on his tatoo with confidence. You wondered if he would even like it.  
Once you were finished with it which took like an hour, you stepped back to admire your work. Daryl's left shoulder blade now had a tatoo. In a thin, slanted, black font, was your name, Megan Moon.  
You smiled, you liked it quite a lot. You grabbed another wet one and wiped the access ink off Daryl's left shoulder blade. Then you spoke to him, "I'm done Daryl."  
Daryl got up out of the chair and stood in front of a mirror on the back wall of the shack. You went and got the roll of plastic wrap. After you had the plastic wrap you went up to Daryl.  
Daryl smiled when you came up to him, "I gotta say Megan, for your first time giving someone a tatoo... yer talented."  
You blushed, "Thanks..."  
Then you unrolled some of the plastic wrap and asked Daryl, "Will you put your arms up please? So I can wrap the tatoo?"  
Daryl nodded and lifted his arms up. You wrapped his tatoo with the plastic wrap. Then he thanked you and put his shirt back on.  
You looked outside and by the highness of the sun, you guessed it was about 3:00 p.m.  
You went over to Daryl and told him, "We have been gone for a while, the group might be worried about us... Maybe we should head back?"  
Daryl nodded, "Ya, let's go."  
You and Daryl walked back to camp together, holding hands. Once you got back, everyone was hanging out outside. You were wearing a mid-sleeved shirt today so no one could see your new tatoo.  
Daryl was unfortunately wearing a shirt which you wished he would take off. Since he was wearing a shirt though, it covered his tatoo.  
Daryl leaned over to you and whispered in your ear, "Don't tell anyone bout our tattoos... yet."  
You looked at him and whispered back, "Alright."

You walked away from Daryl a little confused. Why didn't he want anyone to know about the tattoos yet? You sighed and walked over to Andrea and Carol who were chatting. You sat down by Andrea and butted into their conversation, "So what are you guys talking about?"

Andrea turned to you and smiled, "We were just wondering how long we are going to stay here..."

You shrugged, "I have no idea..."

Carol smiled and informed you, "I saw you and Daryl come out of the woods together..."

Andrea laughed, "Yea, what about that?"

You blushed a little and just blew it off like it was nothing, "Its nothing really, we were just going on a walk."

Andrea looked at you, giving you a look that said she knew you were lying, "You were gone for two hours..."

You paused, you had been caught, you stuttered a little as you covered for yourself, "It was a really long walk..." your statement sounded more like a question though.

Gosh you hated lying, plus you were terrible at it. It wasn't hard to tell Andrea still didn't believe you. Andrea laughed at your obvious nervousness. She stood up and told you to follow her.

You followed her back into the mall and sat down in a chair across from her. Andrea looked at you, "So... how are you and Daryl?"

You laughed, "We're fine... Why?"

Andrea laughed, "Well because you were gone for a while with him and you told me about the gas station thing..."

You nodded slowly, "I did... but that doesn't mean me and Daryl did something in the woods..."

Andrea looked confused, "What happened?"

You sighed, "Andrea, you are my best friend... please believe me when I say nothing happened."

Andrea rolled her eyes at you and walked off, muttering under her breath, "Whatever."

You sighed and went back to your room. Great, why won't Daryl let you tell anyone about the tattoos? You sat down on the floor and ran your hands through your hair. You looked up as Daryl walked in the room. He came over and sat down beside you with a 'hmph'.

You smiled at him and asked, "When can we tell people about our tattoos?"

Daryl sighed, "I didn't want ta 'tell' anyone... I wanted people ta see them before we told them... ta git more a reaction."

You nodded at Daryl and then bit your lip, "...So that's what this is all about... a reaction?"

Daryl looked taken back by your comment, "Never said that..."

You grumbled under your breath and walked out of the room. Leaving Daryl alone in the room, you left the mall all together. You went into the woods and pulled out the knife Daryl had given you. It was the exact one Daryl let you use that day you impressed him and Rick with your throwing skills.

It may seem silly but, the knife was your most prized possession. Mostly because Daryl had given it to you. You slumped against a tree once you walked God knows how far away from the mall.

It seemed to take a while though so you assumed you had walked quite a distance. As you sat against the tree, you twirled the knife around in your hands. You were an expert at handling knives. You saw a walker shuffling around a few trees over. It started coming towards you so you sighed and stood up. Without hesitation, you threw the knife through the air and it hit the lone walker right in it's right eye.

You watched as the walker crumpled lifelessly to the ground. You strutted up to the walker and slowly pulled your knife out of it's eye. You then stuck your knife into the damp ground, successfully cleaning off every last bit of the walker gore on the knife.

After the knife was clean you slid it back in your belt loop.

Then, you turned around and ventured further into the woods.

You carefully walked down a steep slope and once you were back on flat ground, you sat on a fallen tree and looked down, running your hands through your hair.

You sighed, maybe you should have just heard Daryl out... it really wasn't fair, you acting that way toward him. You stood up, wiping the dirt off of your pants. Then you turned back the way you came and slowly climbed back up the drop.

Once on the high ground, you started walking, more like running back to camp. After what seemed to be about an hour, you arrived back at camp. The sun had begun to go down and the sky was turning dark. You entered the mall and walked to you and Daryls room.

You saw Daryl sitting in the corner of the room where your makeshift beds were. He was cleaning off his already clean arrows.

You went up to him and sat down, watching him clean the arrows until they had a perfect shine. He looked up at you after a few moments and asked carelessly, "Ya come 'ere ta yell at me some more?"

You hesitated for a moment and shook your head, "No, and I'm sorry about before... I shouldn't have acted like that."

Daryl rolled his eyes at you, "Then why'd ya even come back?"

You looked at him, shocked by his question, "I came back because the people in this group are my friends... I also came back because... I- I love you..." You looked into his unreadable blue eyes. Wondering how he would react to your answer.

Daryl looked shocked, he looked into your eyes. Then he tossed his arrows on the floor.

This confused you so much, what was he doing? What was going through his mind?

As Daryl tossed his arrows to the floor, he didn't break eye contact with you.

At this point, you didn't know what to do... you had never seen him this way before. Of course, you had seen him get a temper... a lot but, never like this. You wasn't even sure if you should be scared at least slightly.

Daryl looked up at the ceiling as he stood up. You stood up with him, a bit nervously. He pointed a finger at you, his face was red as he said, "Do ya know what happened last time someone told me they loved me?... They left me! They left me all 'lone to fend fer myself!"

He looked at you, again meeting your gaze. Emotions were obviously coming at him strong. You swear you saw a tear streak down his cheek.

You stepped near him and touched him lightly on his shoulder. You spoke softly to him, "Daryl..."

Your efforts to comfort him were obviously not working. He pushed your hand off his shoulder roughly.

You stared into Daryls icy blue eyes with great sorrow. He was so emotionally scarred. Daryl calmed down and looked at you, "You don't understand Megan, whenever someone says they love me... they always leave..."

You spoke softly to Daryl, trying to reassure him, "Daryl, I'll never leave you... look." You rolled up your right shirtsleeve to reveal the tatoo on your right shoulder. You smiled lightly and pointed to the tatoo of his name, you looked up at Daryl and confirmed, "We're forever."

As you looked back to Daryl, you saw him smile, for real. You walked over to him and hugged him. Having finally calmed himself down, Daryl hugged you back. You kissed him on his cheek and as you pulled away, you swear you saw him blush.

You smiled to yourself, wondering if you could possibly be, the only person to ever see Daryl Dixon blush.

Daryl tried to hide the fact he was blushing. He didn't do to well at it though. He sighed and said, after his failed attempt of hiding the fact he was blushing, "Well, I'm tired... ya ready for bed?"

You nodded, "Yea."

With that you both laid down in your makeshift bed and you fell to sleep, with Daryls strong arms around you.

When you woke up in the morning you slowly eased your way out of Daryls protective arms, careful not to wake him up. Then you grabbed a clean change of clothes out of your clean clothes bag and went to the restroom. You changed into your clean clothes, brushed your teeth, and brushed your hair.

After you had gotten ready for the day, you exited the restroom. As you came into the main part of your room, you saw Daryl putting on a clean shirt to wear for the day. The shirt still had sleeves on it so once Daryl put it on, he reached in his belt loop, pulling out a knife. Then he roughly cut the sleeves off the t-shirt.

Once he slipped the knife back into his belt loop, you walked over to him, placing both of your hands on his chest. You looked up at him smiling, then he leaned down and placed a long passionate kiss on your lips. You kissed him back, and it soon turned into a make-out session.

He was pushing you across the room and you were going with him, easily. Not paying attention though, you both crashed into a clothes rack and brought it to the floor with you.

Daryl landed on top of you and his knife fell out of his belt loop. It clashed to the ground and Daryl kicked it across the room. Cursing at it under his breath. Obviously, the knife meant nothing to him right at the moment.

You both continued to make out and finally Daryl got off of you and picked up the clothes rack that had been covering you both, he slung the clothes rack across the room and it hit the wall so hard, that the metal of the rack bent in half. Which of course, sent the clothes on the rack falling to the ground.

You looked up at Daryl and then looked over at the clothes rack. You saw that it was totally destroyed. You grinned as you got up and went over to Daryl. You felt his left bicep and smiled with a laugh, you said, "Wow... my boyfriend has muscle."

Daryl laughed at you and grabbed your right hand with his left hand. Then he led you out of the room you share together and into the main part of the mall. There you saw the rest of the group talking and laughing together.

You and Daryl sat down together by the group and listened in on their conversation.

Rick saw both of you join the group so he turned to you with a smirk on his face, the sheriff asked you, "What was going on in your room?"

You laughed ad you answered him, "None of your business copper."

The whole group laughed at your answer and Rick joined in, in laughter, shaking his head slightly.

Rick turned back to the group and resumed talking what they had apparently been talking about before.

Having gotten bored by this time, you and Daryl stood back up and walked out of the mall together. You sat on the ground with your back right against the building.

Daryl sat down by you and whispered in your ear, "Will you come with me in the woods?"

You looked up at him and nodded, smiling, "Sure, I'd love to." Daryl and you both stood up and walked off into the woods. Before you could leave the front yard of the building though, Andrea stepped outside and ran up to you. Though before she reached you and Daryl, she saw his tatoo of your name on his left shoulder blade. She gasped excitedly and squealed, "Aww, that's so sweet!"

You, at the moment not knowing what your best friend was talking about, turned around. You questioned the squealing blonde, "What?"

Andrea smiled at you and pointed to Daryl's tatoo of your name. Daryl turned around and said to Andrea, "Let people see it on their own, okay?"

Andrea nodded and looked at you, "Aww that's so sweet!"

You heard Daryl grunt, obviously irritated at being called sweet. You nodded your head at Andrea quietly. Then you rolled up your right sleeve and showed Andrea your tatoo of Daryl's name. She smiled and whispered to you, "You belong together."

You nodded and smiled whispering quietly, "I know."

Then you turned away from your best friend and ran up to your boyfriend. Daryl is your boyfriend, you smiled to yourself, you loved the sound of that. Andrea, seeing she should give you and Daryl some alone time, headed back to the mall.

Daryl turned around to look at you he smiled and intertwined his fingers with yours. He had a hand knife in his other hand, which while you and Andrea were talking, he was using to strip a tree of it's bark.

In your other hand, you held your knife that Daryl had given you. You always took that knife everywhere, you never knew when you would need it.

You and Daryl walked through the woods together and Daryl asked you, "Megan, a few days ago, you told me you love me..."

You nodded your head, "Yea, I did."

Daryl looked into the sky, trying to keep himself from looking at you as he asked, "Did ya mean it?"

You met Daryl's gaze as he looked back at you, you answered him softly, "Yes I did, I will always love you."

Daryl stared back into your eyes and a slight smile crossed his face. He came closer to you, he dropped his knife on the ground and put both of his arms around your waist. Then he placed his lips on yours, soft and passionately. When he pulled away, he whispered in your ear, in a murmur so low you could barely hear it, "I love you too."


	10. Chapter 10

So you stood there, just holding Daryl as close to you as you possibly could in a hug. He had told you that he loves you. You felt like screaming out of pure happiness but held back the desire. He broke the hug and kissed you again, you kissed him back and then you saw some footsteps on the ground, leading back to camp.

You reluctantly pulled away from Daryl and pointed at the tracks on the ground as you said, "Look... I don't think those are ours..."

Daryl crouched down in the ground to get a close look at the tracks. He stood up and looked off into the distance to where the tracks were leading to. He walked off to the side a little bit and shook his head as he came back to you. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed, "There's three or four people heading to our camp. They were heading there recently too..."

You looked at the tracks some more, and asked, "Could they be walkers?"

Daryl shook his head, "No, these tracks are in a controlled straight line.. Walkers kinda walk with an uneven gait and their tracks are usually zig-zagged."

You looked to Daryl, "As much as I hate to be focused on anything but you right now... do you think we should head back to camp?"

Daryl sighed, "Yea, I guess, ya never know, these guys could be trouble."

After about fifteen minutes of walking back to the mall, you and Daryl finally got there. When you did arrive at camp, there was most definitely trouble. Your whole group, besides yourself and Daryl, were standing in the front of the mall, arguing with four physically strong guys who were loaded with all sorts of weapons. You and Daryl walked cautiously up to your group, to help them out with whatever was going on.

The biggest guy who Rick informed you was called Jack, was now yelling, "Give us the mall or we'll kill you all!"

Rick threw his hands up and tried to keep calm, "Listen Jack, there is no where else to go... we're sure there has to be somewhere around here for you guys to stay but that place is not here."

You saw anger flash through Jacks face as he took a step toward Rick. You were so scared for Rick as you watched Jack tower over him. You couldn't try to stop Jack, there's no way you would be strong enough, and any attempt would only anger Jack more.

You watched as Jack raised his gun and was about to shoot. You thought you were gonna see one of your best friends get killed right in front of you. At the last second, T-dog came running in between Jack and Rick, trying to protect Rick.

You screamed as Jack pulled the gun. You watched in horror as T-Dog crumpled to the ground. The sound of the gunshot that brought T-dog down echoed through the air. You tried to run forwards to T-Dog.

You were held back by two strong, protective arms though. You knew Daryl was the one that was holding you back from getting to T-Dog. No matter how much you squirmed, or screamed, Daryl wouldn't let you go. You couldn't stand it, with all the strength you had, you lunged your body forwards and escaped Daryls grasp. Once you were free from Daryl, you ran up to T-Dog and sat on the ground beside him.

You could just barely make out the rise and fall of his chest as he weakly breathed. You were irritated, it seemed like everyone except you were frozen in shock. Even Rick was just looking at T-Dog, unknowing of what to do. No one moved, no one stepped forwards to help T-Dog but you.

You looked into T-Dogs eyes and spoke softly, "You'll be okay, your gonna be just fine."

You wouldn't let yourself believe otherwise, you wouldn't let T-Dog die like this. The other members of your group seemed to have lost hope already though. T-Dog had been shot in his chest, you watched in horror as blood gushed out of his wound. You quickly took your shirt off and pressed in against T-Dogs wound to stop the bleeding.

Yes, you were shirtless, in front of your whole group, but you didn't care at all. All you cared about at the moment was T-Dogs survival. You could feel everyone in the group watching you. You turned around and yelled at Hershel who was just standing there, "Hershel! Get over here!"

The old man snapped out of being in shock and walked over to you, squatting by T-Dog.

You looked up and saw Jack standing there with his arms crossed. He looked down at you with a stare so dark it looked deadly. He spoke in his deep gruff voice, "You've got till morning to move out." He took his gaze off you and looked to the rest of the group, "That goes for all of you, because whoever's here when we come back tomorrow, will be killed.

With that threatening statement, Jack and his group turned around and disappeared into the woods. You turned your attention back to T-Dog. He didn't look to good. A tear fell down your face as you realized you would probably lose a friend today. T-Dog reached out and held your left hand, saying weakly, "... It's okay Megan... I'll be just fine... trust me."

You smiled and reassured him, "Yea, I know."

Hershel had gone back into the mall and got some supplies to do an immediate operation on T-Dog. When the old man came back, he said kindly to you, "Megan, you and the rest of the group might want to leave this area because I'm about to perform surgery."

You nodded and let go of T-Dogs hand. As you walked away with Daryl you turned around promising T-Dog, "I'll be back after your surgery."

T-Dog nodded at you in thanks.

Crying a bit, you walked out into the woods with Daryl. You were silent, not wanting to talk to anyone until you knew T-Dog was gonna be alright. He had put his life on the line, to save Rick. What did Rick do? Nothing, he just stood there in shock. Hershel was even just standing there. Sure, Daryl was holding you back to protect you and everything but he didn't do anything for T-Dog, he stood there like the rest of them. You might be plain stupid to have hope T-Dog would be alright, but you never give up on friends that easily.

Back in Highschool, you were voted 'Most loyal friend' in the yearbook from the time you were a Freshmen to the time you graduated as a Senior. That was because, no matter what, you always stuck by your friends. If they ever needed something, you were there for them. If you ever promised them something, you would never let them down.

You stared at the ground as you walked through the woods with Daryl. Only earlier today, the day was going perfect until Jack and his what gang showed up.

You felt a hand on your shoulder, of course it was Daryl. You just sighed, "What do you want?" You sat down on a fallen tree limb and Daryl sat down beside you. He looked into your eyes and asked you, "Are ya okay? Do ya wanna talk?"

You shook your head, "I don't want to talk about anything right now..."

Daryl nodded, "Ight but if ya do, ya know I'm 'ere?"

You nodded, faking a small smile to try to make him less worried about you, "I know."

Daryl nodded and put his left arm around you, pulling you in for a hug.

30 minutes later...

Daryl woke you up because you had fallen asleep on his chest, crying. You got up slowly and stretched. Daryl intertwined his fingers with yours and asked you, "Ya think we should get back ta see T-Dog?"

You nodded, nervous to see if T-Dog was still alive or not. You and Daryl began walking back to camp, hand-in-hand.

You finally arrived back at the mall and no one was out front. Curious of where everyone went, you and Daryl entered the mall and found the group all inside T-Dogs room.

You paused outside the room to calm yourself down and then you walked in. The group turned as you came in the room and moved aside so you could see T-Dog.

He was laying on an old cot like thing the group must have found in the mall somewhere. He had his shirt off but was wearing tons of bandages over his chest where he had been shot. You walked over to him and he smiled weakly at you. He murmered to you, "You saved my life Megan, I owe you."

You smiled as you said, "You don't owe me anything, all I did was stop the bleeding."

Hershel came up to you and placed a hand on your back he spoke softly to you, "Yes Megan, you did just stop the bleeding but you also got me to snap out of my state of shock and help T-Dog."

You smiled, "Well when you put it like that..."

T-dog slowly eased himself off the cot and standing up announced, "You can't let me hold you guys up... We've got to get out of here before Jack and the pack gets back." T-Dog smiled a bit at his rhyme.

You laughed a bit, lightening the mood by reciting, "Jack and the pack gets back." Daryl put his arm around you and smiled, pulling you against him.

Rick shook his head slowly, "you're not holding us up T-Dog. Are you able to walk okay?"

T-Dog nodded and walked around, "Yea, I'm fine."

You laughed and shook your head a little bit, "The man gets shot down and pops right back up."

Rick laughed a little at your comment, "Well everyone, start packing up your stuff and taking it out to the RV and cars. We will leave as soon as we can."

sarcastically, you turned to Rick and said, "It's okay if we're here when they come back, Daryl can take down each and every one of them easily."

Rick rolled his eyes at you.

Daryl smirked and asked you, "Have some confidence in yer boyfriend there?"

You laughed and nodded saying, "All the way."

You then turned to Daryl and grabbed his hand, intertwining your fingers with his. You walked back to your room with Daryl. Once you got back to your room, you walked over to your bags and picked them up off the ground, then you slung the bags over your shoulder. You left Daryl in the room and walked outside, you went to the RV and put your bags in the back so they would be ready for when everyone was ready to leave.

Once you were finished putting your bags in the RV, you went back into the mall. In the malls main room, was the rest of the group. They were all carrying their luggage out to the cars and RV now.

Since you had already put all your stuff in the RV, you stood and held the door for everyone. Daryl was the last one out of the building so once he was outside, you let the door shut.

You walked with your boyfriend over to the RV and waited for him as he loaded his belongings into the RV. When he was done, you both climbed onto his motorcycle. Once everyone in the group was ready to go and the cars and RV started back to the highway, Daryl started his motorcycle up and followed after them.

You finally came across a prison and it looked vacant from the outside so you all drove up to it. It was a good thing you found it when you did because gas was beginning to run low.

You all got out of or off the vehicle you were in or on and walked up to the front of the prison. The door was unlocked so Daryl slowly turned the handle, and once the door was opened, everyone followed him inside.

Inside there were some zombies and other dead people behind the bars of some of the cells. Even though they were contained, Daryl raised his crossbow and shot the walkers in their heads.

After about an hour, the building was cleared out and not a walker or other dead person remained.

All of you began to search for a room to stay in while you were there. You and Daryl found a kind of big room and put your stuff in there. You laid out the clothes you and Daryl used as a bed at the mall. You then arranged the spare clothes so they would be comfortable to lay on.

You stood up and turned around to see Daryl staring at you with an unreadable expression. You smiled and hugged him. He hesitated for a few moments but then hugged you back gently. He pulled away from you and looked into your eyes, speaking softly to you, he said, "I don't know what I'd do without you..."

You smiled at him and kissed him lightly but passionately. When you pulled away, you looked into his icy blue eyes and reassured him, "Dont worry about that, I'm here and your here and neither of us is going anywhere."

Daryl smiled at you and pulled you into him. You started kissing each other which led into a make out session. You heard a loud motor outside but ignored it not wanting to break away from Daryl. You kept making out then heard people down the hallway arguing, you heard a deep voice of a man who didn't sound familiar.

Daryl pulled away from you for a second but you pulled him back into you. About 5 minutes later you and Daryl were still making out and someone coughed.

You looked over at the rooms entrance and saw a man that you had never seen before. He was stocky-built maybe a little overweight. He was a bit taller than Daryl but had icy blue eyes that were identical to Daryls. He had short, buzz cut brown hair. You looked and saw that the unfamiliar man was missing his right hand. Where his hand should be, he had a machete taped to his wrist.

You noticed that he paid no attention to you but instead, his gaze drifted to Daryl. A half smirk came across the mans face as he looked at Daryl.

You looked over to Daryl to see what was going on. Daryls icy blue eyes softened and a smile came across his face as he looked at the man. The new guy took a step forwards with his arms outstretched and said cockily, "Ya miss yer big bro?"

Daryl ran up to the man and gave him a huge hug. The two men stood there hugging for a few moments. Then you asked the question that had been bothering you, "Daryl... who is this?"

Daryl let go of the intruder and turned to you answering, "This is my big bro Merle."

You looked at Merle, nervously, you didn't trust him...

He smiled and walked over to you, "You have a thing for my little bro?"

You stared straight into his eyes unflinching. You could tell by his body posture he was trying to become dominant over you. Still staring at him, you said coldly, "Yea, I do. You gotta problem with it?"

Merle just held your gaze which made you a bit uncomfortable. It was all you could do not to back down. You didn't look away from him and finally, when he saw he wasn't going to win, he just laughed and walked out of the room.

You stared after Merle as he left the room. Once he was gone, you turned back to Daryl and asked, "Why is he missing a hand?"

Daryl rolled his eyes, "Cause, before ya came along, they said Merle was trouble so they handcuffed him ta a roof. They left him there so he sawed off his hand to get free."

You nodded slowly, "Ok, just wondering... you say this was the guy responsible for all your scars?"

Daryl shrugged, "Him an my dad."

You looked at him curiously, "I wonder what he's doing back here..."

Daryl began to walk out of the room after Merle while saying, "He's probably come ta get his revenge."

You were left alone in the room, this was weird. When Daryl said 'come to get his revenge' you wondered what extent Merle would go to. By his attitude when he walked in the room, you guessed a high one.

You shook your head and left the room, heading in the direction Daryl had went. You didn't see him in the building so when you passed by Rick, you asked him, "Have you seen where Daryl went?"

Rick nodded, "Yea, he went put front with Merle."

You thanked Rick and went outside to where Daryl and his older brother were. When you saw them, you noticed they were doing target practice. You went up to them and stood by Daryl.

Merle looked over at you, "Ey, we're trying ta practice 'ere."

You smirked with an attitude, "So am I." You pulled your knife out of your belt loop and threw it full speed at the oak tree that Daryl and Merle were using as target practice. It hit the tree elegantly where you were aiming at.

Merle looked over at you with his mouth opened. You just smiled and walked over to retrieve your knife.

Merle turned to Daryl in shock, "Wow Daryl, ya sure know how ta pick a woman."

Daryl smirked, "Ya, well it took me a while before I figured out I liked her. She's really great."

Merle nodded as he looked distant in his thoughts, he asked Daryl, "Ya really like her huh?"

Daryl nodded, "I love her."

As you came back from retrieving your knife out of the tree, you heard Daryl tell Merle that he loves you. You blushed at his words. Daryl is just so sweet... and sexy, and hot, and charming, and brave, and amazing! You smiled to yourself, you were so lucky to have him.

You walked up to the two men and noticed Merle was staring at you. You looked at him and sarcastically asked, "Well, what's wrong Merle, you impressed?"

Merle stared at you and suggested, "How about we go somewhere private and you can give me lessons? We're all gonna die anyways."

You rolled your eyes at him and said clearly, "I'd rather."

Daryl turned to you and laughed, "Just ignore my brother."

You nodded with a hint of an attitude, "That's what I was doing."

Merle grumbled to himself and walked away. You smiled at Daryl and kissed him.

There was yelling coming from the prison so you turned around and saw Andrea standing there. She was yelling out to you and Daryl, "Can you both go hunting for dinner?"

You nodded and yelled back at your friend, "Yea, we'll be back soon!"

Andrea nodded and went back into the prison.

Once Andrea was gone, you reached down and held Daryls hand. Daryl tightened his grip on your hand and then you set off into the woods to hunt. You were walking for a while when you both saw a huge buck deer. You looked at Daryl and he nodded at you.

You let go of Daryls hand and walked over and hid behind a tree that was on the opposite side of the deer that Daryl was on.

Truthfully, you felt kinda bad for taking this deer down. It had made it so far, had done a great job of surviving this zombie apocalypse. Now to only be killed by you and Daryl. You tried to think the positive though, you and the group had to eat so you yourselves could survive.

You saw Daryl give you the signal so you pulled your knife out of your belt loop. You looked at the deer for a moment and then you threw your knife with great accuracy. The knife hit the deer right between it's eyes.

The deer came down to the ground instantly so there was no need for Daryl to shoot it with his crossbow.

You and Daryl walked up to the deer and you claimed your knife. You stuck the knife into the ground to clean it and then you stuck it back in your belt loop. Of course, it would need to be cleaned better back at camp. Daryl looked down at the deer, considering it's size then he grabbed it's front legs and lifted the front of it up a bit. He sat it back down and looked at you, "You get the back legs, I'll get the front legs... maybe we can carry it back to camp that way."

You made a face at him when he told you to get the back legs. He noticed and laughed at you, "What?"

Being serious you complained, "Why do I have to get the farty end?"

Daryl laughed, "Cause, I want the front, cmon now, don't be a wuss."

You stuck your tongue out at him playfully and defended yourself, "I'm not gonna be a wuss."

Daryl smirked, "Oh, really?"

You laughed, "Really!"

You grabbed the bucks back legs and Daryl grabbed it's front legs. It was unbelievably heavy but, together, you managed to pick it up.

You started back to camp in silence, then your mind drifted back to sorrow for the deer. You looked at Daryl who looked very sexy with his muscles flexed from the effort of carrying the deer. You decided to break the silence, "I feel kinda bad for the deer."

Daryl didn't look back at you though because he had to watch where he was going. He still responded to you though, he had almost a tone of amusement in his voice, "Why?"

You shrugged, "Well, because... it was doing just fine surviving the apocalypse until we killed it."

Daryl hesitated a moment, "Ya, but it still had a better death than it would end up having. Think it was eventually gonna die anyways, more likely from walkers. So by us killing it... we kinda gave it the easy way out."

You looked at the ground and then quietly asked Daryl, "Is that what you think for us to? That we will all eventually die?"

Daryl waited a moment before he answered you, "N- no I didn't say that... If I was gonna die though, I would rather have a living human kill me, it would be a better death."

You were silent after that, you asked him, "Daryl, if God forbid, I would get bitten or infected somehow... could you please be the one to end me?"

Daryl nodded slowly, "If I was still alive at that time, it would take all I have..."

You looked at Daryl, "I can guarantee you, if I get bit, you'll still be alive."

Daryl laughed lightly, "How can you guarantee that?"

You hesitated for a moment and then answered him, "I know because, if you died before me... I would kill myself."

Daryl turned around and looked at you with shock evident in his eyes. He sat the deer down and came over to you. You sat the deer down also and stared into Daryls eyes as he towered over you.

He looked down at you and said in a very serious tone, "Ya better not kill ya self if I die, ya hear me?"

You looked at the ground, breaking away from his glare. He put his hands on your face and turned your head gently to make you look at him. He continued his lecture, "If I die, ya need ta find another man ta make ya happy... ya understand me?"

You looked into his eyes, and said, "No."

Daryl looked angrier than you had ever seen him as he stared into your eyes, "I don't wanna die, but if I do, you'd better not throw your life away."

You looked into his eyes and quietly whispered, "My life, would mean nothing without you."

Daryl stared into your eyes, "I would give my life to protect you, and if I die saving you. You'd better not kill yourself, or it'd be a waste of both of us." Daryl still didn't move his hands off your face as he said, "If I die, you need to keep this group alive."

You nodded, finally understanding why Daryl had gotten so upset with you.

You saw a smirk come across Daryls face and you smiled at him, "What?"

Daryl kept the smirk on his face as he answered you, "I lied... If ya get bit, I'm gonna lock ya up til I find a cure."

You laughed at your boyfriend and kissed him. He kissed you back and when you pulled away, you rested your head on his chest and whispered to him, "I love you."

You felt Daryl stiffen when you told him you love him. Yes, you had told him you love him before... but he still wasn't used to it. You took your head off his chest and backed away. You reached down and grabbed the deer by it's back legs.

Daryl, seeing you were ready to head back to camp again went to the front of the deer and grabbed it by it's front legs. When both of you were holding the deer, you began to walk back to camp with it again.

When you got back to camp, the group was all outside and they had lit a bonfire, waiting for you and Daryl to come back with the food.

When they saw you and Daryl emerging from the woods with the large buck, all of them smiled in delight. Rick, Merle and Glenn all came over to you and Daryl and helped you carry the deer into the prison.

When you got it inside, the five of you looked over every single inch of the deer for bite marks. There was no bite marks at all, the deer was perfect and perfectly safe to eat. You smiled at you and Daryls successful hunting trip. The deer was in perfect condition to eat. You would all eat tonight!

Daryl and Merle dragged the deer back outside and away from the group. Rick went to the RV and got a very thick and sturdy rope and when he came back, he tied it around the deers hind legs. Then Daryl, Merle and Rick dragged the deer over to a huge, sturdy oak tree.

You watched them from a distance and then decided you would help them. You walked over to them and grabbed the end of the rope that wasn't tied to the deer. Then you climbed up the tree as far as you could. You found the last sturdy branch and threw the end of the rope over it. You looked down at the deer. It's back end had only gone up a few inches.

You looked at the ground, you were pretty far up. Just to be safe, you wrapped the rope around the branch one more time and then tied a knot at the free end of the rope. You knew what you had to do to get the deer high enough so the walkers couldn't get to it.

You looked down again and saw Daryl looking up at you with a worried expression. You smiled down at him. Grabbing a firm hold of the end of the rope, you climbed down from the branch you were on. You hung onto the rope and slowly, the deer went up the tree as you came down. Finally, you came to the ground and landed lightly on your feet. You walked over to the lowest branch and tied the free end of the rope to it.

Once you were done, you went over and gave Daryl a hug, he hugged you back. Then you climbed back up the tree to where the deer was hanging. You pulled your knife out of your belt loop and slit the deers throat.

A fountain of blood poured out of the deers neck and as you looked down you saw Daryl and Rick were out of the way. You laughed though when you saw the blood pouring down right on Merle. He didn't look happy either, his face was blood red- literally from the deer blood. He looked up at you and flicked you off. You were laughing so hard that you were shaking.

You slipped the knife back into your pocket and climbed back down from the tree.

You avoided the fountain of blood and walked around Merle who was giving you a death stare. You laughed at him and walked over to Daryl and Rick. With a grin on your face, you joked to them, pointing at Merle, "Hey, look Merle's taking a shower."

Rick and Daryl started laughing and when Merle looked at them, they just laughed harder. You grabbed Daryls hand and walked over to the rest of the group with him.

When you got over there, you saw everyone staring at Merle and laughing. You walked over with a smirk on your face. T-dog looked at you while laughing, "You know, I don't like Merle, and yet I couldn't have gotten him nearly as mad as you did."

You laughed, "Your welcome T-dog."

You looked over to Daryl who was laughing with the rest of the group. You sat down with the group while you were waiting for the deer to drain. Rick was sitting by the tree waiting for the deer to dry.

After about an hour, Rick came over to the group and announced, "The deer is dry."

Daryl got up from where he was sitting by you and walked back with Rick over to where the deer was hanging. You went with them and untied the rope from the low branch. You made sure you had a good grip on the rope and then you climbed up the tree and slowly lowered the deer down.

Once the deer was on the ground, you climbed down from the tree and went over to Daryl and Rick. You looked around curiously, "Hey, where's Merle?"

Rick laughed, "He went on a walk to find a river or something to get clean in."

You laughed, "Oh... well I didn't mean to pour the deer blood on him, I swear, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

You looked over at Daryl who was smirking at you. You smiled at him and gave him a hug. He only hesitated a moment before wrapping his strong arms around you.

Rick interrupted the two of you though by asking Daryl, "Are you going to help me prepare this deer or what?"

Daryl released you from his grip, "Ya, I am."

Rick nodded and picked up the deer by its two hind legs. Daryl grabbed the deer by its front legs and the two men began to carry it back to the bonfire.

You walked with them but when they got the deer by the fire, you and the rest of the group, except for Rick and Daryl went into the prison. You went inside to avoid seeing Rick and Daryl prepare the deer for dinner.

When you were inside, you went to you and Daryl's room and sat in the corner. You looked around and thought to yourself that six months ago, you had been in school and everything was great... except for your abusive parents. Now, the only thing you have is your friends... and your amazing boyfriend Daryl Dixon.

You missed texting, watching tv, heck, you missed regular showers but you were sure everyone did.

You pulled out the knife that Daryl had given you after when you first came to camp after you showed him your skills with a knife. You twirled the elegantly crafted knife around in your hands and smiled to yourself, it was your most prized possession.

After about an hour and a half,

You heard someone walk into the room and looked in the direction the noise came from. It was Andrea, she walked over to you and with a kind smile informed you, "The deer's ready."

You nodded, "Alright, I'll be there in a minute."

Andrea nodded and left the room. You stood up from where you were sitting and walked out of the room. You went outside and joined the rest of the group around the bonfire spot.

When you got there, Daryl came over to you and have you a plate of food. You thanked him with a kiss and then said your prayer and began eating your dinner.

As you ate the deer, you wondered when would be the next time all of you would be able to eat well like this. Daryl was sitting beside you, eating his dinner also.

When you were full, you pushed your plate to him and he ate the leftovers. After he was finished, you scooted closer to him and rested your head on his chest. Daryl wrapped his arms around you and you both just stayed like that until everyone was finished eating.

You noticed that Lori was staring at you and it ticked you off… you knew that Lori had the hots for Daryl, it was so obvious. It was horrible, but part of you wished you had just let Lori die back at the cabin. After all, it was her fault that the walkers found the cabin in the first place.

You closed your eyes and snuggled closer to Daryl.

The Next Morning...

The last thing you could remember was cuddling with Daryl by the bonfire. So you must have fallen to sleep on Daryl because when you woke up you were in your room. You looked over ready to say good morning to Daryl, only... he wasnt there.

Confused a bit, you stretched and got up. You went to the restroom and changed your clothes and brushed your hair. After all of that, you left the room and went outside. You found the group by the bonfire spot again and sighed, it's like that was their favorite place. You walked over to them and looked around. You didn't see Daryl, panicking, you asked Andrea, "Where's Daryl?"

Andrea smiled at you, "Are you worried about him?"

You blushed a bit, knowing you really were worried about him.

Seeing she wasn't going to get an answer, Andrea answered your question, "He's over there." she pointed to the side of the building where Daryl was standing, smoking and looking off into the woods.

You looked back at Andrea, "Why's he over there?"

Andrea shrugged, "We told him if he was going to smoke for him not to do it in front of Carl, because Carl looks up to him and it's a bad influence."

You rolled your eyes, "Daryl can't help it Carl looks up to him... I can guarantee you that if someone else in the group wanted to smoke, they could do it wherever they wanted."

This statement silenced Andrea for a moment and you walked away.

You didn't bother going up to Daryl, you just went to the RV and since the key was sitting right on the dashboard, you turned the RV on and drove off.

As you drive down the highway, you saw a huge water truck parked on the side of the road. You got out of the RV and walked over to the truck, you smiled, what a great find!

As you approached the truck, you noticed that the jugs of water were all wrapped in packaging plastic. They had never even been opened which meant they were perfectly safe to drink, brush teeth with, bathe with, clean with, do anything with.

You took two jugs of the clean water out of the truck at a time and put them in the RV. after what seemed like at least a half an hour, you had totally emptied the water truck and put all of the clean water in the RV.

You smiled to yourself, this water would last a while, at least two months.

You went back up to the drivers seat of the RV and drove back to the prison. When you got back, you parked the RV and went to the group which were now gathered inside the building.

You walked into the prison with a smile on your face. With everyone hearing or seeing you come into the prison, they turned their attention to you. You ran your hands through your hair and announced, "I've got a surprise for all of you in the RV."


	11. Chapter 11

The group looked at you in wonder and Daryl quickly jumped up and grabbed your hand. You laughed at him and he smiled, "I wanna be the first ta see it."

You nodded and you and Daryl left the prison and walked out to the RV together hand in hand. The group followed the two of you to the RV. When you goth there, you entered the RV and everyone came with you. When they saw the RV was full of big jugs of water, they all smiled, and some people even came over and gave you a hug. Daryl gave you a kiss though which you gladly accepted.

Rick raised his hands up in happiness then he hugged you announcing to the group, "Everyone, Megan has just given us the best gift we can ask for!"

Everyone hooted and hollered for you in thanks. Except for Lori who was looking more annoyed than ever. What was wrong with her? She started out as your friend and now acted as if she couldn't stand you... it was probably because she wanted Daryl for herself so she was just jealous. You smiled to yourself you were so going to tick her off. You walked over to Daryl and kissed him and he kisses you back. You loved Daryl so much, you would honestly die for him.

Okay and now Lori looked as if she was plotting to kill you. You met her gaze and just stared at her unblinking until she looked away.

Everyone, getting over their excitement finally, decided to help you carry some of the water jugs back to the prison. Everyone grabbed one or two jugs to carry back. You took that much back to the prison with you because all of you hoped you would be staying there a while.

When you got back to the building and everyone had put the water they were carrying down, you went over to Daryl. He was leaning against the wall waiting for you. You smiled at him and asked, "You want to go on a walk?"

He nodded at you and you both exited the building and went outside then you went into the woods. You and Daryl held hands as you walked through the woods. You broke the silence by asking him, "So what's going to happen once this apocalypse is all over?"

Daryl shrugged, "I don't know if it'll ever be all over."

You looked at the ground, "Well this can't go on forever... can it?"

Daryl laughed sarcastically, "Do I look like I know? Until they find a cure I guess."

You nodded slowly, "Yea... I guess..."

You looked into his blue eyes that always seemed so unreadable. You couldn't help it. You had to tell him, "Lori's after you..."

Daryl spat on the ground in disgust, "Yea, I know."

You looked at him confused, "What? You know?"

Daryl nodded, "Before you came ta the group, she tried ta get with this stuff." He gestured to his body with a sexy smirk on his face as he spoke.

You laughed, "Well, not that I can blame her, but, your mine." you smiled at him and he smiled back at you and said, "Yea, I know."

You two turned around and headed back to camp. When you got there, Merle was back. He was standing at the edge of the woods with a grumpy look on his face. You smirked as you walked past him you said, "Ya ya Merle we all know you don't like getting clean but everyone has to wash up now and then."

Daryl laughed at your comment but it only made Merle madder. Merle stared at you, "That wasn't funny what you did to me."

You laughed, "Really? Cause me and everyone else thought it was."

When Merle didn't lighten up at all you walked over to him and put your hand on his shoulder. You laughed and said, "Oh, lighten up Merle, that blood did wonders for your skin."

When Merle got that 'I'm gonna kill you' look on his face, you got away from him and quickly went back to the prison with Daryl.

The next day...

You woke up and looked next to you, Daryl was laying there still sound asleep. You smiled and went to the restroom. You got dressed and brushed your hair and with one of the jugs of water you had got from the water truck, you were even able to brush your teeth.

When you were finished you walked back out of the restroom and saw that Daryl was still asleep. You walked out of the room but when you left the room, you almost bumped into Lori.

She turned around and saw you and smiled, "Hi Megan, do you want to go into town with me to get some supplies?"

You nodded, "Yea, sure, I don't have anything better to do."

Lori nodded and the two of you walked out to her car. You got in the passengers seat and Lori got in the drivers seat and then started up the car and you both left.

2 hours later...

You looked out the window as Lori drove the car. You thought you had been in the car for a while, you turned to Lori, "Hey, we've been driving a while now, why's it taking so long?"

Lori kept her eyes on the road, "I'm sorry Megan... I really am, your nice and everything and everyone back at camp likes you lots, except for me... Maybe it's not fair, I know... You and Daryl Dixon are in love. But, I'm in love with Daryl. Before you came along, I thought I might have a chance with him but... it's not gonna happen with you around."

You looked at her, horrified, "Lori, just please take me back to camp, it's not too late. You don't have to do this."

Was Lori going to kill you?

Lori looked at you, "Look, we started off as friends... then you moved in on Daryl and I can't have you doing that." Lori turned back to the road and said, "I'm giving you a chance, I really am. I don't plan on hurting you... I just want to get you far away from camp do you can't find your way back."

You looked at Lori in shock, then you slowly pulled your knife out of your belt loop. You were about to stab Lori when she looked in the mirror and saw what you were doing. She turned around really quick and grabbed you by your wrist do you couldn't stab her.

She smiled crazily at you and said, "Bad move."

She was surprisingly strong about as strong as you. You fought to keep a hold of your knife and then Lori somehow managed to take the knife from you.

She stopped the car and pushed you aside then opened the passenger door. You punched her in the stomach which caused her to jump back a bit. She got back up after a second though and pushed you out of the car.

Before you could get up and get back in the car, Lori shut the passenger door and drive away. A second or two after she left, she rolled down the passenger window and threw your knife out of it.

You scrambled to your feet and ran to the spot Lori threw the knife. You picked your knife up and slipped it into your belt loop. After you had your knife back, you went into the woods and cried.

Back at camp...

Lori parked the car outside the prison. Then got out and walked up to Daryl who was doing target practice with Merle, Rick and T-dog. She made herself cry so that her story would look believable. Daryl, seeing that Lori was crying, walked up to her and asked, "Are ya okay? What's wrong?"

Lori looked into Daryl's eyes and said in the saddest tone she could manage, "I'm so sorry Daryl... its Megan... I'm afraid she's gone..."

Daryl's icy blue eyes clouded over with rage as he stared at Lori, "She's gone?! What do you mean gone?!"

Lori shook her head in sorrow and looked at the ground, "We went into town together to get some supplies for the group... well a bunch of walkers ganged up on us and... I'm afraid she was bitten. I'm sorry Daryl, since she got attacked, I guessed I should just leave her there."

Daryl turned from Lori in rage. "How could you let her die?! How Lori?!" Lori was doing a pretty good job of putting on a show, "We were cornered Daryl, she told me to leave her and tell you what happened."

Daryl nodded in anger and tried to calm himself down, "Tell me, you at least put her out of her misery..."

Lori nodded, "I did, as soon as she got bit I shot her dead."

Daryl fell to his knees in sorrow and grief, he just looked at the ground as he asked Lori, "W-what were her last words?"

Lori looked to the sky as she thought of what to say, "Her last words were, Daryl save me."

Normal point of view~

In the woods Lori left you by...

You sat by the base of a tree, crying. What was Lori telling the group? More importantly, what was Lori telling Daryl?

You rolled up your right shirt sleeve and looked at the tattoo of Daryl's name. You cried even more, you had to get back to him... even if it killed you. You pulled your sleeve back down and stood up. You walked out of the woods and back to the road. You looked and didn't see any cars that were in the condition to drive. You ran your hands through your hair in stress. You sighed and began to walk up the road to see what you could find.

You saw an old car and went over to it. You opened the door and climbed inside, you looked all over the inside of the rusty old car for keys but didn't find any. Irritated you leaned back in the drivers seat. You spoke to yourself under your breath, "Crap, I'm gonna die out here..."

Back at camp~

Daryl ran his hands through his hair in distress, rage, and sorrow. He looked at Lori who didn't look like she knew what the crap to do.

Daryl stood up in rage and and approached Lori until they were face to face. He looked at her right in the eyes and said in a menacing tone as he pointed a finger at her, "I know you did something to her!"

Lori backed away from Daryl, a bit scared, she stuttered, "N-no I didn't Daryl."

Daryl took another step forwards and raised his hand at Lori like he was gonna hit her.

Rick and T-dog lunged forwards and stopped Daryl from hitting Lori. They struggled to restrain Daryl and Rick called out to Merle, "Merle! Get over here and help us!"

Merle just remained standing where he was and shook his head, "Naw, I'll let my little bro blow off some steam."

Rick looked at Merle annoyed by him.

Daryl broke free of Rick and T-dogs grip and walked back to the prison. He went inside the building and let the door slam behind him.

Andrea followed Daryl into the building seeing how upset he was. She sat down beside him in your room and tried to figure out what was wrong. Daryl looked over at Andrea, his emotion for once obvious in his eyes. Andrea looked at him knowing something was definitely wrong, so she asked him, "Whats wrong? I can tell your ticked."

Daryl shook his head and looked at the ground as he answered Andrea, he said in a voice so low it could barely be heard, "She's dead..."

Normal point of view~

You got out of the old car and began walking up the road again. All you had was your knife, no food, no water. Gosh, you really needed water.

You felt like if you were never going to see Daryl again, this might be the time for you to die. You shook your head to rid yourself of those thoughts. You would find Daryl... and turn everyone against Lori. What was wrong with her? She had like totally snapped... As you kept walking, you came upon a house. You knocked on the door and when no one answered, you just decided to walk in.

So you walked in the house and explored every inch of it then you realized that it was totally empty.

You sighed and laid down on the couch, soon you drifted off into sleep.

When you got up, you went over to the refrigerator and opened it. There was a half-full gallon of water in the refrigerator. You smiled and pulled the gallon out. You unscrewed the lid and drank the water straight from the gallon.

Refreshed, you put the gallon back in the refrigerator and Left the house. Once you were outside, you walked up the road more towards the direction Lori headed back to camp in.

So maybe you wouldn't die... but you still needed to find a car to get back to camp.

Back at camp...

Andrea looked at Daryl in shock as she asked, "Are you talking about... Megan?"

Daryl nodded and stared up at the ceiling, "Lori was with her when she died..."

Andrea got up from where she was sitting and walked out of the room, she brushed past Merle who was coming to talk to Daryl.

Merle walked in the room and stood in front of Daryl with his arms crossed. He looked down at his younger brother with no sympathy.

Merle, meeting Daryl's gaze with no respect ordered him around, "Stand up and take it like a man."

Daryl stood up from where he was sitting and stared Merle right in his eyes.

Seeing Daryl was listening to him, Merle said, "Look, this girl has made you get soft, that's making you look weak. Before she came along, you weren't no softie, now..." Merle spit on the floor in disgust, "Your no better than that sheriff out there."

Daryl crossed his arms, "I'm not getting' soft, she hasn't changed me at all!"

Merle laughed sarcastically, "Yea, how many times have you told her you love her."

Daryl didn't answer for a moment then he said quietly, "Once..."

Merle nodded with a smirk, "before ya told her you loved her, when was your last time you told someone you love them?"

Daryl didn't answer and Merle nodded at his hesitation, "That's what I thought, she's made you soft Daryl, every time you think of her... let that tell you how soft you are. Ya might as well go die, cause ya ain't no brother of mine." With that... harsh statement, Merle spit on the floor again and turned around and left the room.

Back at camp-

Daryl stared after his big brother as he left the room. Daryl couldn't hardly believe it, the only family he had left, had just disowned him.

Thinking Megan was dead, practically killed him. His thoughts drifted back to the conversation they had a couple nights ago when they were bringing the deer back to camp. He had promised her that if he was still around and she got bit, he would be the one to put her out of her pain.

He told her that if she got bit he would probably tie her up someplace safe until a cure was found. He remembered what Lori said her last words were, 'Daryl save me.'

He ran his hands through his hair and sighed, he thought to himself, 'Maybe I should just die.'

Normal point of view~

You wondered how Daryl was handling this.

You wondered how you would keep going like this.

You wondered if you would make it back to the group... back to Daryl...

So many questions raged through your mind with no answers.

You walked up the road some more and the scenery started looking familiar from before Lori pushed you out of her car.

You kept walking that way, you were almost positive it was the way back to camp. You sighed, by car, it took 2 hours to get here from camp. You didn't even want to know how long it would take by foot.

You had to keep going though, you swore under your breath, Lori had gone too far. You walked on for hours and finally decided you needed to rest. You walked into the woods looking for a place to rest for the moment. You were walking around for a place that looked safe.

Looking ahead of you but not at the ground, you accidentally stepped on a root of a tree and sprained your ankle. You whimpered as it swelled up and from the pain of the sprain, you fell to the ground. You weakly got up and went over to a strong looking tree.

It had some low branches so you lifted yourself onto them slowly and then in agonizing pain, began to climb further up the tree. Once you were high enough in the tree to be safe from walkers, you laid down on a sturdy branch.

After finally getting comfortable and feeling safe, you went to sleep.

Back at camp-

Daryl lit a cigarette and leaned back against the wall... as he thought about what Merle said, he realized he may be getting soft for Megan. He felt so torn, Merle had never really been there for him. Though, Merles opinion still mattered to him.

Then there was Megan... who he loved... he knew he did. She was dead now though. So what use was it to still love her? She was gone... never coming back so why should he hold on to what they had?

He thought back to when Megan told him she loved him. She had made him a promise... a promise that she would never leave him.

~Normal P.O.V~

You woke up to the sun peaking brightly through the treetops. You then cautiously climbed down from the tree you had slept in.

Once you set foot on the ground, your ankle immediately started throbbing again from straining it the night before. You closed your eyes in pain and let out a quiet cry.

You leaned against the tree and stretched, you had not slept very good. You were so exhausted that you could fall to sleep standing up.

You had to keep going though, you saw a squirrel climbing up a tree, weakly, you slipped your knife out of your belt loop and rocketed it at the squirrel.

As the knife zoomed towards it, the squirrel darted up the tree, completely avoiding the knife. You swore under your breath and went to the tree to retrieve your knife. You pulled the knife from the tree then slipped the knife back into your belt loop.

You limped onwards, you had to get back to camp as fast as you could. There was no way you were gonna let Lori think she got rid of you that easily. You smiled to yourself a bit, there was no way you were gonna let Daryl think you were a wuss.

You heard a clash of thunder and you looked up into the sky which darkened with only a few moments hesitation. Then rain began to pour down from the sky.

You sighed, this wasn't good... at all. Now there was no way you could hunt because all of the animals would be taking cover somewhere. Plus, there was no way you could start a fire to cook anything of you even caught it.

You trudged onwards in attempt to fight through the pain of your sprained ankle. You watched as lightning lit up the sky. You tried to hurry and find a place to take cover.

Lightning struck the nearest tree you were by and took it to the ground. You, seeing what was happening, tried to get out of the way of the falling tree, but your sprained ankle made you fall. You struggled to get up but couldn't get out of the way in time so the top of the tree, fell right on you.

Luckily, it only hit you with it's thinner, weaker top branches, it still hurt though. Just not enough to cause any serious damage. At the most, it would leave a few bruises. You slowly crawled out from under the tree and stood up looking into the sky... you needed to get to Daryl.

Once you stood up, you looked down at your sprained ankle and winced, wondering when it would heal. You looked off into the distance and saw a buck deer grazing peacefully.

You snuck behind a tree and watched the deer. When it looked at you, you threw your knife and it whistled through the air and pierced the deer right in its neck. The deer dropped to the ground dying instantly from your knife going completely through its neck.

You went over to the deer and ripped your knife from its neck. Then you stuck your knife into the damp ground to clean it off. When you pulled the knife out of the ground it was clean and shining silver.

You grabbed ahold of the deer's antlers and cut them off with your knife. You picked up the severed deer antlers from the ground and cleaned off your knife again.

Once your knife was clean, you slipped your knife back in your belt loop. Then you started walking back towards the direction of the groups camp again.

You took a break from walking, not wanting to further damage your sprained ankle. You sat down on the ground, with your back against a tree. Then you took your knife and started carving into the deer antlers with it. You were making a makeshift bow and arrow to protect yourself with if any walkers came along. It took you a while but finally you got the bow carved right and then skillfully carved three arrows.

All you needed now was like a stretchable rope to hook to the now so that you could actually shoot with it.

You got up and looked around some and finally, you found a thick elastic band on the ground. You picked it up and shook it off then tied it onto your makeshift bow. You turned to a tree in the distance and fired an arrow at it to see if your makeshift bow and arrow would work.

You smiled when the arrow flew through the air with great speed. It embedded itself in the bark of the tree. You walked over and pulled it out of the tree, then you set back off to camp. You did feel a bit safer now that you had a knife and a bow and arrow.

Your sprained ankle throbbed but you kept fighting the pain off by thinking about different things. You had progressed further to camp today than you had the other two days combined. You needed water, so bad. Finally you heard something, you walked in the direction of the sound and realized you had come to the end of the woods. You peaked out of the woods in the direction of the sound.

Your eyes widened in horror as you whispered to yourself, "Oh crap..."

It was a huge group of walkers wobbling around out in the open. You looked to the left and saw there was a road. You doubted yourself but you wondered if you could get to one of those cars parked on the road.

You shook your head, it was no use, there were too many walkers. You couldn't kill them all. Then you looked to the right and saw a line of houses. You wondered if you could make it to a house and stay there until you could get to a car.

Maybe you could, the walkers weren't paying attention to what was going on near the houses. You decided you would try to get to a house.

You snuck along the borderline of the woods and once you were close enough to a house, you walked quietly out of the woods and went up to the nearest house. You turned the handle to the front door and the door opened. You turned on the house lights and carefully searched the house.

There was nothing in there, the house was completely empty. You went over to the refrigerator and saw that whoever lived here had a brand new pack of store-bought water bottles. You opened the pack and took a water bottle. You unscrewed the cap and said your prayer then drank the water. It was so cold it felt like heaven. You wondered if a car was nearby. You looked out into the garage and saw a beautiful 2011 Dodge Charger.

You almost squealed with excitement. You ran out to the car and looked at it real good. It was perfectly clean and in perfect condition. You went back inside the house and looked around for the car keys. Finally, you found the keys and you grabbed the package of water bottles. You also grabbed your bow and arrow then checked to make sure your knife was still in your belt loop which it was.

Then you walked back out to the car and put all your stuff in the passengers seat. You pressed a button that opened the garage and then you started the car and drove out of the garage.

You looked in your review mirror and saw that the walkers had noticed you because of the noise of the garage door and the car. You sped up the car and drove past the walkers before they could get near the car.

Finally, you were driving the car on the road, heading back to camp and Daryl.

At camp... (you're not there... yet)

Rick had everyone gather around the bonfire section of camp. Once everyone was there, he began, "Okay everyone, you may already know because I'm sure everyone has been told by someone by now... but we have lost one of our most valuable group members a couple nights ago. But... Megan, unfortunately... has died..."

Everyone fell silent in sorrow for you. Some, even shed a tear or two. Rick cleared his throat and continued, "The reason I waited a couple of days before making this announcement is because I know lots of you were close to Megan and her death is a big loss... I wanted people to kind of find out individually so they weren't in shock when I held this meeting. I need all of your attention right now, I need all of you to listen about what needs to be done."

Rick looked around the group and saw Lori showed no emotion at all.

He waited a moment for what he was saying to sink in before continuing, "I know everyone is sad and depressed right now... Megan was a wonderful person... a true and loyal friend..." The sheriff trailed off in his sentence as he let emotions get the best of him. A tear rolled down his cheek but he managed to pull himself back together, "Megan was always there whenever someone needed her... she was reliable and dependable, a skilled hunter. Always knew how to make someone feel better. Yes, this group is at a great loss without Megan, but we must go on."

Daryl remained silent staring at the wall while Rick talked.

Rick calmed his emotions that were building up inside of him and looked around at the group. He let his gaze rest on Daryl, "Daryl, I know this is hard on you, but you'r going to need a new hunting partner."

Daryl quickly turned his gaze to Rick and said as he stood up, "I don't need anyone." Then Daryl walked outside with his crossbow slung over his shoulders and disappeared into the woods.

Normal point of view~

You were in the Dodge Charger you had found in the garage of that house. It began to slow down so you looked down at the gas tank indicator. You were running on empty, it was only a few minutes before the car completely stopped moving.

You sighed and grabbed your stuff off of the passengers seat. Then you climbed out of the car, luckily you were only about 5 minutes away from camp by car. You walked into the woods which were close to camp so you knew basically every inch of them between here and camp. You limped through the woods because your sprained ankle was still bothering you lots.

As you walked through the woods, you saw a squirrel scaling up a tree. A second later, an arrow fired past you and hit the squirrel right in the center of its back. You stared at the arrow for a minute and then you realized who shot the arrow. You couldn't contain your excitement. You ran in the direction the arrow had came from and saw Daryl, you tackled him to the ground.

He looked stunned for a moment until he realized who you were, then his icy blue eyes lit up in excitement. He stuttered a bit, "M-Megan? We thought you were dead."

You climbed off Daryl and shook your head, "Well... I'm not."

Daryl stood up and smiled, he gave you a hug and asked, "Explain?"

You nodded, "I will later."

You and Daryl walked over to the squirrel he shot and Daryl took the arrow out of it. Then he hooked it to his belt and slung his crossbow back over his shoulders.

You picked your stuff up off the ground but Daryl carried your package of water bottles for you. As you were walking back to camp, Daryl noticed you were limping and so he asked you, "Why ya limping?"

You sighed, "I tripped on a tree root and sprained my ankle."

He nodded, "When I get ya back ta camp, ya need ta have Hershel look at it."

You smiled and said, "Okay."

Daryl laughed lightly at you, "Why the smile?"

You laughed and admitted, "I missed you."

Daryl smiled, "Did ya now?"

You laughed and nodded, "Yea, I never thought I'd get back to you."

Daryl raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Ya have a lot of explaining ta do."

You nodded and said, "I'm sure you'll all find it very interesting."


	12. Chapter 12

You and Daryl finally made it back to the prison and walked inside. The group didn't even turn around when the door shut because they thought it was just Daryl.

Everyone in your group had their backs turned to you so you limped up quietly and asked loud enough for all of them to hear you, "Well, did you all miss me?"  
Everyone turned around to look at you, shock obvious on all their faces. Rick along with everyone else looked lost for words. You looked over at Lori who looked horrified at what you might tell the group. She also looked a little disappointed her plan didn't work. You smirked at her, wow... she had so underestimated you.  
Rick finally cleared his throat and was the first to speak, "Megan? Lori said you were dead..."  
You laughed cockily, "Well, I'm not."  
Rick looked over at Lori and as their eyes met, Rick gave her a cold stare. Then Rick came over to you and gave you a hug that lasted a few minutes. It was almost like he was afraid to let you go with the risk of something happening to you again.  
After the sheriff finally let you go, you got a quick hug from Andrea, then T-dog, then Glenn, then Carol and Maggie and Hershel. After everyone was finished hugging you, Daryl came back up to you and gave you like the biggest hug anyone had ever gave you followed by a kiss.  
You kissed him back, not caring other people were watching.  
Then Daryl pulled away from you and turned to Hershel. Daryl informed him, "Megan tripped on a tree root an sprained her ankle... is there anythin ya can do for that?"  
Hershel nodded, "Yea, I can take a look at it. First though, I wanna know what happened."  
The whole group agreed with the doctor except for Lori who stayed silent. Then Rick added in, "I think we all do."  
You shook your head and with a smirk you said, "First someone tell me Lori's story."  
Lori's eyes widened in fear when you said that. You smirked, this would be interesting.  
Andrea cleared her throat and began to tell you what Lori had told the group, "When she came back from town... she went straight to Daryl and told him you were dead."  
You turned to Lori, about ready to kill her you stared at her, "Lori I swear..."  
Andrea stopped you, "Oh but wait, I'm not done... then she told other people and other people told other people and soon everyone here heard the story. The story was, you two were going into town and had gathered supplies. Then when you were going back to the car, you got surrounded by zombies. You and Lori were fighting them and you got bit. Once you were bitten, you took it like a real pro and went down brave. She said that you said, 'Shoot me and run.' and Lori said she listened to you and as you were dying you yelled out, 'Daryl save me!' then you died."  
You had your mouth open in disbelief. You shut your mouth and then turned to look at Lori.  
How dare she tell Daryl that your last words were 'Daryl save me?!' You knew it must have hurt Daryl really bad when Lori told him that. Even more since he had promised you that if you got big he would try to find a cure.  
You swear you were gonna kill that woman. You looked around at the group and laughed sarcastically, "None of you really believed everything in her story right?"  
Your friends kind of looked around at each other with guilty looks on their faces. You shook your head and laughed, "Y'all really think I would go down like that?"  
Andrea hesitated for a minute and said, "Well... I thought it was a little wimpy for you, 'Daryl save me.' Though its hard to know what someone would say as they died."  
You shrugged, "That's not even the point... now let me tell you what really happened." You cleared your throat and looked around at the group, "Early the morning I disappeared, Daryl was still asleep so I let him sleep in. I got ready for the day and walked out of the room. When I was in the hallway, Lori asked me to go get some supplies from town with her... I went. After 2 hours I realized it was taking way too long to get into town. Then I asked Lori about it. She apologized and said she didn't want to hurt me. She said that getting me far enough away from camp that I wouldn't be able to get back would give her a better chance with Daryl. Then we got in a fight and she pushed me out of the car about two hours from here by car. Some of the time I didn't think I would make it back here... but, hey... I did!" You smiled and looked at the group who were staring at you in shock of what Lori did.  
Rick turned to Lori, his blue eyes darkening in pure hatred towards the woman. He spat the words angrily at her, "Get out of here, now!"  
Lori looked at Rick apologetically and begged him, "No, Rick please don't do this I have nowhere to go."  
Daryl narrowed his eyes in a threatening way at Lori who looked scared for her life. Daryl said in disgust, "Yer sick, Lori. I can't believe ya thought ya could git away with this." Daryl took a step towards Lori and stared daggers at her.  
The atmosphere was tense and Rick walked over to you and since Carl was in another room of the building, Rick quietly announced, "Megan, Lori tried to leave you to die... she is now viewed as a danger to the group. Her life is now in your hands and we will not hold it against you if you want to end it."  
You nodded, listening to the sheriff give you permission to kill Lori. You looked over at Lori who looked scared for her life. You looked back at Rick who looked like he was totally zoned off.  
Making your decision, you walked over to Lori and grabbed her by her arm. You made her get up from where she was sitting. As you led her out of the building, you grabbed your makeshift now and arrow off the table by the door. You let go of Lori and quickly lifted your bow into shooting position. You aimed the arrow at Lori, forcing her to venture into the woods.  
Finally, you reached a cliff like area that had a large body of water under it. The cliff enclosed the body of water on all sides, there was no way Lori would be able to escape. You stopped her at the edge of the cliff and she turned around to face you. You gave her a fake sympathetic look and raised your bow to her head. She looked at you and whispered, "Please don't."  
You shrugged, and said, "You know Lori, I wouldn't even have this deer antler bow and arrow if it weren't for you forcing me to survive... so... thank you."  
Lori looked so scared you shook your head in a bit of real sympathy. Feelings of anger and resentment replaced the feelings of sympathy quickly though.  
Lori asked you in a desperate tone, "Please, don't shoot me."  
You smirked sarcastically, "Wasn't gonna, your a waste of an arrow."  
With that, you pushed Lori off the cliff and watched as she hurdled to her death.  
You were stunned for a moment realizing you had just killed Lori. You had killed Lori.  
What had you done?  
You threw your deer bow and antler over the cliff and into the water as well. Then you backed away from the cliff. You couldn't stop thinking about what you had just done. You ran your hands through your hair in a stressful way.

You tried to reassure yourself, it was okay, Rick put Lori's life in your hands. You sighed in distress still and limped back to camp, your sprained ankle was really starting to hurt bad again. You so needed Hershel to look at it.  
Finally when you got back to camp, you went inside the prison and found Hershel. You limped up to the old man and told him, "I think you should look at my ankle, I sprained it on my quest for survival."  
Hershel nodded and helped you to your room. You wondered where Daryl was...

Daryl's point of view...  
Daryl was at the side of the building smoking because it wasn't allowed, smoking inside the prison.  
He knew that Megan had probably killed Lori by now. Surely, Megan would feel guilt, she wasn't the kind of person not to. Heck, she even felt guilt for that one deer.  
Daryl shook his head with a smirk on his face. He loved Megan, and he knew it.  
Merle walked around the corner mumbling under his breath about one thing or another. Finally, he made his way to Daryl and stared at him saying, "Choose."  
Daryl raised his eyebrows in confusion at his older brother, "Choose? What ya mean?"  
Merle looked into the sky seeming in thought then he turned to Daryl, "Choose, between me an Megan."  
Daryl shook his head, "Naw, ya can't make me do that."  
Merle stared daggers at Daryl, "Let's make it easier for ya, you stay away from Megan or I'll kill her. Ya understand little brother?"  
Daryl narrowed his eyes at Merle and threw his cigarette on the ground then he stomped it out. Daryl took a step towards Merle and stared his big brother eye to eye. He spat the words at Merle, "Don't ya lay a hand on er!"  
Merle smirked and taunted Daryl by lifting his arms in the air as a challenge, "Or What?"  
Daryl spat at the ground, "Or I kill you."  
Merle smirked, "She has made you soft, you'd kill fer her! Cmon little brother, swing a punch at yer old pal Merle."  
Daryl looked away from Merle, trying to get himself under control. Then he quickly turned back around and socked Merle right on his jaw bone. There was a popping sound but Merle hid the pain.  
Merle threw a punch at Daryl and knocked him to the ground. Daryl got up quickly though before Merle could hit him again.  
The fight went on for a while until Rick realized what was going on and came to break it up. Rage was still pounding through Daryl's blood. He swore if Merle hurt Megan, he was dead.  
Daryl walked away from Rick and Merle. He went into the woods but somehow Merle managed to find him. Merle came up behind Daryl and taunted him, "Poor little Daryl has to stay away from Megan."  
Daryl ignored Merle and kept walking. Merle laid his hand on Daryl's shoulder and stopped him. He asked Daryl, "So, ya made yer decision yet?"  
Daryl turned around and nodded with rage apparent in his eyes, "Yea, I've made my decision, that my life was so much better before you found the group!"  
Merle laughed and said, "I mean about Megan."  
Daryl nodded, "Ya, made that decision too, I'll stay away from her. Not fer you tho. Fer her, ta keep er safe."  
Merle nodded and patted Daryl on the shoulder, "Smart decision."

Normal point of view...

You were sitting on the floor of you and Daryl's room. Hershel was examining your sprained ankle and every so often asking you to tell him how much it hurt out of 10.  
You answered Hershel, "About a 7... or 8."  
Hershel nodded and informed you, "Yea, you sprained it pretty bad. Your lucky you made it back to camp, it's almost broken."  
You nodded, "Yea, I tried to stay off it as much as I could. I was afraid I would sprain it worse."  
Hershel nodded at you, "That was a good idea. Umm... I don't really have anything here to bandage it with... so just relax and stay off that foot as much as you can until I tell you it's healed properly."  
You sighed, "Okay..."  
Hershel smiled at you, "You've had a long last few days, why don't you get some sleep now."  
You nodded at Hershel in thanks then curled up on your makeshift bed and went to sleep.  
While you were asleep, Daryl entered the room quietly and walked up to you. He was careful not to wake you up as he looked down at you asleep. It took all he had to control his rising emotions.  
He didn't want to leave you, he really didn't want to break your heart... but he loved you do much he didn't have a choice. Daryl sighed and left you alone in your room.

The next morning...  
You woke up and looked over next to you. You were confused when you saw no Daryl. You got up out of your makeshift bed and got ready for the day.  
After you got ready, you went outside and found Daryl smoking under a tree. You smirked at how sexy he looked and walked over to him. You grabbed the cigarette right out of his mouth and puffed on it.  
Daryl rolled his eyes at you and took the cigarette back. You laughed a little at his attitude, "Whats wrong grumpy?"  
Daryl just shook his head and walked into the woods to get away from you. You called after him with no luck though. He didn't even acknowledge you.

Daryl's point of view...  
Daryl walked into the woods to escape Megan and her questions. She was obviously worried about him. He sighed he knew he was hurting her and more hurt was yet to come. If she could only know what was going on and that this was all Merle's idea.  
Daryl sighed and ran his hands through his hair. If only Merle would have never come back... everything would be perfect.  
Daryl heard a crunch of leaves and turned to look. It was Merle, coming up to him with an ear to ear cocky grin plastered on his face. As Merle approached him he said, "I know what yer thinking' little brother, but if ya tell Megan... I'll still kill er."  
Daryl glared at Merle and said to his older brother, "I hate you."  
Merle smirked, "Love ya too little brother."  
Daryl threw a punch at Merle and then walked away with anger pulsing through his veins.

Megan's point of view...  
You stood there where Daryl left you, you were upset. Why was he acting like this you sighed, something was definitely up.  
You tried to go after him but was stopped by Hershel. The old man laid a hand on your shoulder gently turning you around.  
He said sternly, "Megan, you need to rest that sprained ankle of yours. It's not going to get any better of you don't take it easy."  
You looked down at your sprained ankle and nodded. You had forgot that you needed to rest it since you were used to walking on it even with the sprain.  
You looked back up to Hershel and nodded slowly at the concerned old man, "Alright, I'll go sit down."  
Hershel gave you a kind smile as he nodded and walked off towards camp. You followed a ways behind the old man. Thoughts of how Daryl acted towards you wouldn't stop raging in your mind.  
Once you arrived back at the prison, you went to your room followed by Andrea who insisted she keep you company as your sprained ankle healed. You sat down in a chair and Andrea sat in another.  
She looked at you as you say there in silence thinking to yourself. Finally breaking the silence she asked you, "What's wrong? I can tell something's up."  
You shook your head and sighed, "I just don't know... Daryl's acting like he don't wanna be around me... I was trying to play around with him like I always do and he got an attitude with me and walked off."  
Andrea looked in thought for a moment as she slowly asked the question, "Did you..."  
You grinned and shook your head punching her playfully, "What's that supposed to mean?"  
Andrea smirked, "Nothing its just some guys act stupid and weird sometimes."  
You nodded, "All guys all the time."  
Andrea laughed at you , "Yeah that's true..."  
You laughed a bit as well and asked her, "So what's going on with you and Rick?"  
Andrea shrugged, "Friendship..."  
You nodded, "You like him though."  
Andrea laughed, "Is it that obvious?"  
You nodded, "Yea, why don't you just tell him how you feel."  
Andrea shrugged, "I don't think he's completely over Lori."  
Guilt crossed your subconscious as you remembered how you killed Lori. Andrea must have caught the look of guilt cross your face because she asked you, "You okay?"  
You didn't answer her right away because your mind was still stuck in the flashback. When you realized Andrea was trying to talk to you, you snapped out of your flashback. You said back a little to snappy, "Yea, I'm fine."  
Andrea looked at you obviously not believing you. You shook it off and said, "I still can't believe how Daryl acted... He seemed so happy to see me when I came back..."  
Andrea nodded, "That is weird."

Finally, after a long and exciting conversation, Andrea left your room. After she left, you laid down in your makeshift bed and stared out into the hallway. You saw Daryl walk past the room and wondered why he hadn't stopped in to say hi to you. You called out to him, "Hey, Daryl! Get in here and see me, you know your girlfriend?... The one with the sprained ankle?"  
He walked back into the doorway of the room and leaned against the door, "I ain't got time... an ya ain't my girlfriend." With that Daryl turned around and walked back down the hall.  
You say there in your bed, whispering quietly to yourself, "So all of a sudden he ain't got time for me... and I ain't his girlfriend?" A tear rolled down your cheek at his words and you stared at the wall. It probably wasn't even anything for you to worry about, he's probably just busy and in one of his bad moods. Someone probably did something to tick him off.  
You sighed, you knew you were supposed to go easy on your sprained ankle but you weren't about to let him walk off after what he just said to you.  
You got up from your bed weakly and went into the hallway. Immediately, you found Daryl sitting alone outside your room sitting on the floor huddled together with his face hidden in his arms. You sat down quietly beside him, he definitely looked upset. After you were sitting down by him, you gently rested your hand on his back trying to comfort him. He looked over at you and said with a cold tone, "Megan?"  
You hesitated a moment, "Yes?"  
Daryl stared at you with his icy blue gaze, "Stay away from me."  
You didn't know what to say to that so you just sat by him in silence. Daryl, a few moments after he said that to you, hot up from where he was sitting, forcing your hand off of him and walked away from you.  
You stared after him in silence, you had no idea what to do.  
You got up and went back to your room. You might have just lost the person who meant the world to you.

Two weeks later...  
You woke up and got out of your makeshift bed and got ready for the day. Your sprained ankle truthfully was feeling a lot better.  
After you got ready, Hershel walked into the room and went up to you. The old man smiled kindly and asked you, "How's your sprained ankle feeling?"  
You smiled and said, "Lots better."  
Hershel grinned, "Glad to hear it, can I take a look at it real fast?"  
You nodded and rolled your pants leg up.  
Hershel carefully examined your ankle and smiled when he was done, "Looks good. You can probably start going back to regular tasks now."  
You smiled and have Hershel a hug, "Thank you so much Hershel, your the best vet ever!"  
Hershel laughed at you and when you released him from the hug then he walked put of the room.  
You went outside to try to find Daryl. You were so confused about what he said to you. You needed to talk to him so bad. Your life was next to nothing without him. As you walked outside, you saw him coming out of the woods with his usual catch of squirrels.  
You hadn't talked to him since that night you found him outside your room and he told you to get away from him... which was two weeks ago.  
He hadn't even come to visit you once while your sprained ankle was healing.  
Still, you loved him and weren't about to let him go that easy. You walked up to him and when you reached him, you gave him a hug. You felt him tense up and then he pulled away from you and walked around you towards the prison. You felt a tear roll down your cheek. He acted like he wanted nothing to do with you. He didn't even wanna talk to you.  
You went into the prison a few minutes after him and saw his squirrels piled up on the floor. You grinned to yourself, Daryl. Even just hearing his name could make you smile.  
You walked past the squirrels and into your room. You found Daryl in there and he was going through your things. You walked up to him slowly, almost nervously and quietly asked him, "Why are you going through my things?"  
Daryl kept going through your stuff and finally dumped the contents of your bag put on the floor. When he obviously didn't find what he was looking for, he turned around and faced you.  
Then he said the first thing he had to you in two weeks, "Where's my knife?"  
You looked at him in confusion, "On your belt?..."  
Daryl rolled his eyes at you and said in a threatening tone, "Don't be smart with me. The one I gave ya."  
You looked down at your belt loop which held the knife he had given you. You said slowly, "... Right here..."  
You indicated to your belt loop. Daryl nodded and walked over to you. He reached down to your waist and yanked the knife out of your belt loop.  
After he had the knife, he stared at you with his icy blue eyes but quickly looked away and left the room.  
After he left, you weakly walked over to the door and closed it. Then, right there where you were standing, you dropped to your knees and started crying.  
Regaining self control finally, you got up from where you were crying and, finally on your feet again you opened the door and walked out. You knew how Daryl had just acted towards you but you needed to talk to him. Without him... you couldn't even stand to go on in this world.  
You went outside again and ran into the woods. Wow, you were so happy that your sprained ankle finally healed.  
You slowed down your pace once you entered the woods and you looked around. You didn't see Daryl anywhere. Finally though you saw him sitting on a rock, he was smoking and looking up into the sky. You went over to him and sat by him in silence. You looked up into the sky also.  
It was pretty, a relaxing blue color with white puffy clouds all over it. The sun was currently being half hidden by a cloud.  
You finally looked back at Daryl who still seemed focused on the sky. You broke the silence and asked him, "You know you can talk to me right?"  
Daryl looked over at you, " 'Bout what?"  
You shrugged, "Anything."  
Daryl shook his head, "No not anything."  
You stared at him a bit hurt by his statement, "Why?"  
Daryl turned his attention back to the sky as he looked in thought, he said, "Best some things be kept secret."  
You hesitated for a moment and nodded slowly, you wished he didn't want to keep secrets from you. At least he was talking to you though. You hoped you wouldn't push him away again with your curiosity. You asked him, "Can you tell me one thing though?...please?"  
Daryl shrugged and put his cigarette out. After he put it out he threw it carelessly on the ground. Then he turned back to you and gave you an answer, "It depends..."  
You looked at the ground, "Why in the last two weeks have you been acting like you want nothing to do with me?"  
Daryl shrugged again, "That's one of the things I can't tell you."  
You looked at him questioningly, "Why?..."  
Daryl rolled his eyes, "Gosh woman! You wanna die?"  
You were shocked by his question and said, "No... but I would die... for you..."  
Daryl looked at you and your eyes met. He leaned in slightly and so did you. Your lips met together and sparks flew. All of a sudden though, Daryl pulled away from you and stood up. He looked at you and said, "I'm sorry Megan, I can't do this... I gotta go."  
With that, Daryl left you alone again. You sat on the rock staring after him as he disappeared into the forest.  
You wanted so badly to follow him further into the woods. You knew though that it might be pushing him too far.  
You had no idea why Daryl had kissed you and then left like he just did. It bothered you though, it bothered you lots. Yes, you knew he could be a jerk at times, but... you hadn't ever seen him act that way before.  
Was he almost... scared? Afraid to get closed to you? You shook your head in attempt to clear your mind of those thoughts. You got up from where you were sitting and began to go back to camp.  
Once you got there, it had begun to get dark out. You saw the light of the bonfire shining brightly in the front yard of the prison. You walked over to join your group around the Bon fire. You sat between Andrea and Carol who had been waiting for you to come and sit with them.  
Some of the squirrels Daryl had caught earlier were roasting over the fire until they were cooked all the way through.  
Once the squirrels were cooked good, Rick pulled them away from the fire and began to cut them up into bite sized pieces and passed them out to everyone.  
Once everyone had their squirrels, people began talking to each other. You looked across the fire and saw Daryl eating sitting by the tents by himself. He looked up at you as you looked over at him and as you made eye contact with him, he looked back down at his food.  
Andrea saw what had happened and asked you, "What's going on?"  
You shrugged, "I have no idea..."  
Andrea looked over at Daryl who was eating his squirrel. Andrea quietly got up from where she was sitting and went over to Daryl.  
She sat down by Daryl and you could see her talking to him. You watched Daryl and Andrea as they talked to see if you could figure out what they were saying. Finally, Andrea rolled her eyes and shook her head at Daryl. Who looked ticked off.  
Andrea stood up and walked back over to you. Once she says by you, she told informed you, "He wouldn't tell me what's wrong but I know he's definitely ticked off."  
You nodded, "Yea... I knew that."  
As it grew darker outside, Rick put out the bonfire and everyone went inside to sleep for the night.

In the morning...  
You woke up really early. You got ready for the day and went outside, you planned on going on a peaceful walk to wake yourself up. You saw Daryl going into the woods with his crossbow.  
You called out to him, kind of surprised that there was someone already awake besides you. When you called out to him, he stopped and turned around to look at you. He sounded like he had an attitude when he responded to you, "What?"  
You shrugged and ran up to him, "I'm just surprised to see someone else awake already."  
Daryl laughed a bit, "Yea, I just couldn't get to sleep good."  
You nodded, "Yea, me either."  
You two kept walking into the woods together, it was almost like old times.  
Once you were in the woods a good ways, Daryl sat his crossbow on the ground. He sat on a fallen tree branch and you sat next to him.  
Once you were both sitting, Daryl turned to you and kissed you lightly on your lips. You kissed him back passionately until he pulled away.

Once Daryl pulled away from you, you still felt the sparks left on your lips from him. You stared into each others eyes and you leaned back in again. Daryl stood up though, avoiding your kiss.

Your heart felt like it had sunk deep into your stomach. All you wanted was him. You were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, but truthfully, it was the highlight of your life, because through this zombie apocalypse, you had met the man of your dreams.  
You looked up at Daryl and asked him, "What is wrong with you?"  
Daryl laughed sarcastically, as he answered, "What's wrong with me? Ha. Woman what's wrong with you? Ya think I could love you?"  
You stared into Daryl's eyes, more hurt than ever, "... You love me Daryl, you know you do."  
Daryl looked around annoyed and back at you, "No, I don't, now get away from me."  
You stared at Daryl, tears streaming down your face, "Daryl please,"  
Daryl turned around and started to walk away as he walked away, you could hear him say, "I wouldn't care if you died in front of me."  
Once he was out of your sight, you fell to your knees on the ground and started crying, crying like you had never cried before.  
You thought about chasing after him but convinced yourself not to. It would only make things worse, only make Daryl madder that what he was now.  
You finally got your emotions back under control and headed back to the prison, today, wasn't going to be a good day.  
As you headed back to the prison, you thought you felt someone watching you. You looked around frantically, a little creeped out, in the distance, you spotted Merle, he had a gun, and was aiming it at you. You turned around to see if there was a walker behind you that he was trying to shoot. When you saw there was no walker, you turned back around nervously to face Merle.  
Merle stared at you with an evil grin on his face as he shouted, "I'm sorry it has to be this way sweetheart."  
You stared Merle, hoping he was bluffing when your worst fear was confirmed as he pulled the trigger.

You closed your eyes as Merle pulled the trigger, you heard the bullet rocket out of the gun. You didn't have time to react, only time to stand there and wait for death to hit you.

Surprisingly though, the bullet did not make contact with your body.  
You opened your eyes just in time to see Daryl dropping to the ground. You ran to him, in shock, crying. You looked at Daryl who was barely conscious and saw that he was holding his chest in agonizing pain.  
You looked up to where Merle was standing and saw the untrustworthy man slip into the depths of the forest.  
You turned your attention back to Daryl and stared into his perfect blue eyes. You leaned down to him and planted a kiss softly on his lips. He managed a slight smile and weakly kissed you back.  
You pulled away and tried to think of what you could do to save him for you feared the man you loved could slip away any second.  
Daryl slowly reached over to you and grabbed your hand. You looked at him and gave him an encouraging smile, trying to hide your fear. Daryl whispered to you, "Megan, I might not make it back to camp... leave me here..."  
You shook your head, now with tears streaming down your face, "Daryl, I'm not leaving you... your gonna be fine, I just need to get you back to camp and you'll be fine."  
Daryl stared into your eyes, "Megan, you need to leave, that shot... was meant for you."  
You shook your head stubbornly, "I'm not leaving you Daryl."  
Daryl sighed, "Tell ya what, if I let ya take me back ta camp, then after I'm back at camp, ya leave an keep ya self safe."  
You nodded slowly and agreed to his deal, "Alright, I'll leave after I get you back to camp."  
Shakily you stood up and looked down at Daryl, who meant the world to you. You reached your hand out to him to help him up and he took it. It took all your strength to pull Daryl up off the ground and to his feet because he was so weak but you managed to.  
Daryl threw his arm around you and, with him leaning on you for support, you both slowly made it back to camp.  
When you got back there, you yelled out to the group, "Someone help! Daryl needs immediate medical attention now!"  
Most of the group came running to see what happened. Rick and T-Dog took Daryl from you and took him inside so they could help him. You followed the three men inside and Rick and T-Dog laid Daryl down on a bed.  
Rick turned to you, "What happened to him?"  
You were about to reveal to Rick what had happened in the woods with Merle until you heard someone walk in the cell. You turned around and saw Merle walk in. He stared threateningly at you as if he was daring you to tell the truth.  
You looked back to Rick nervously and said something that the sheriff would believe. "Me and Daryl were walking around when a stranger, probably a survivor from another group saw us as a threat and shot Daryl in his chest."  
Rick nodded, "Okay, where at in his chest?"  
Daryl, who was unbelievably still conscious responded with a sarcastic remark, "Well, maybe in the spot on my chest that I am pressing my hand on? Jus' a thought..."  
You grinned at Daryl's remark and turned back to Rick, "Do you think he'll be ok?"  
Rick ran his hands through his hair, "We won't know anything until Hershel looks at him."  
You nodded.  
Hershel walked into the cell with his medical bag and stood by Daryl's bed. The old man asked kindly, "Can everyone clear out? It might make this go faster and easier."  
You hesitantly nodded and exited the cell along with Rick and Merle who flashed you a glance of challenge as he cut in front of you.  
You walked down the hall and exited the prison, you just needed some time by yourself. Time to think. You wondered why Merle was going to kill you today. You hadn't done anything to him... except got deer blood all over him, but it was an improvement. A big one at that.  
You smiled slightly as you thought to yourself. Daryl did to care about you. He wouldn't really let you die, he took a bullet for you today.  
Tears started to stream down your face. Daryl took a bullet for you today that could of or might cost him his life. You tried to shake the thoughts away, but you couldn't. You had gotten Daryl shot, it was all your fault. You knew that if he dies it would be because of you.

You decided, after cooling down some, to go back inside the prison. You walked in, stopping by Daryl's cell briefly.

You could see Hershel leaning attentively over Daryl's bed. You said a quiet prayer to yourself that Daryl would be ok. You trudged hopelessly back to your cell and laid down on the bed.  
Finally managing to calm your mind, you fell to sleep.

You slept, in restless sleep until you heard someone walk in the room. You instantly hopped out of your bed and grabbed your gun from your table by the bed. Instinctively, you raised it and pointed it at the intruder.  
The old man threw his hands up in the air as surrender and you put your gun back on the table realizing it was only Hershel.  
Hershel walked over to you to give you an update about Daryl, "Daryl is just waking up, and he is going to be just fine... he was shot luckily an inch above his heart so he will make a full recovery."  
A uncontrollable smile spread on your face with relief of the news you had been told. You hugged Hershel and said, "Thank you Hershel, your the best."  
Hershel smiled at your thanks then spoke again, "I still want Daryl to take it easy though, which means he needs about a week in bed."  
A smile broke across your lips as you said, "No problem there."  
Hershel laughed at you, "It might be harder than you think, he's very strong willed."  
You laughed, "Yea, I know and so am I. So, when can I see him?"  
Hershel replied, "Anytime you would like." With that, the old man walked out of your cell and down the hall. You also exited your cell and went to Daryl's cell.  
When he saw you walk in, a faint smile crossed his lips but he managed to quickly replace his smile with a straight face as he asked you, "What ya doing' here Megan?"  
You shrugged, "I just came to check on you."  
Daryl rolled his eyes, "I don't need anyone checking on me. I told you to leave when we got back ere'. "  
You shrugged, "I know."  
Daryl studied you with his pricing blue eyes before going on, "Are ya leaving?"  
You shook your head, "No..."  
Daryl looked irritated now, "That was part of the deal, I let you bring me back ere for help and then you leave and go somewhere safe."  
You looked into Daryl's amazingly perfect icy blue eyes and admitted to him, "Yeah, I know... and I lied."  
With that you turned to leave the room.  
Daryl called out to you though, "Megan?"  
You answered him without turning around, "Ya?"  
Daryl hesitated for a moment before continuing, "... Will you just stay ere with me? Keep me company?"  
You smiled and turned around, you nodded, "Of course I will Daryl, I'd do anything for you."  
You sat down on the edge of Daryl's bed and stared off into space for a moment.  
You remembered back to when Daryl had gotten bucked off his horse when he was looking for Sophia. He had been injured and needed bed time to recover.  
You thought about how Daryl asked you to stay with him, how he told you to kiss him. Of all the guys you had kissed, kissing Daryl Dixon meant the most to you.  
You could still feel the tingling sensation going throughout your lips from your first kiss with Daryl.

You sighed quietly to yourself and snapped out of the daydream.  
You looked over at Daryl who was studying you curiously. You blushed a bit embarrassed that he had caught you in a daydream.  
Then he asked the question you wished he wouldn't, "What ya doing?"  
You blushed more, "Nothing... just, nothing."  
Daryl grinned at you as he scooted over and made a spot for you to lay next to him on the bed.  
You smiled, blushing uncontrollably and laid down in the spot Daryl had made for you. You closed your eyes and knowing Daryl was safe and with you, you drifted off into a deep sleep.

In the morning, you were woken up by Daryl trying to get out of bed. You got out of the bed before he did though and tried to keep him from further injuring himself.  
You asked him, "What are you doing?"  
Daryl looked at you a bit annoyed, "Trying to get out of bed to help the group... how about you?"  
You answered honestly, "I'm trying to take care of you and make sure your recovery goes good."  
Daryl laughed, "I'm pretty sure I don't need your help."  
You looked at Daryl in disbelief, "Look Dixon, you are staying in bed until you recover and I am going to help you whether you like it or not."  
Daryl looked at you with a half grin on his face, "Well, look there, someone's gotten tough and under control of things... Almost as stubborn as me."  
You laughed, "Well, if that's what it takes, that's what I'll do."  
Daryl smiled at you for real and laid relaxingly back in his bed. He stared at you and grinned mischievously as he said, "Dang... I wish I was feeling better..."  
You laughed at him and asked, "Oh, do you now?"  
Daryl kept the grin on his face as he nodded, "I do... come here."  
You listened to Daryl and walked back over to his bed. You watched intently as Daryl pulled your knife he gave you out of his belt loop. He smiled and handed it to you. As he handed it to you, he said, "Here, I believe this is yours."  
You smiled as you took it from him and slipped it in your belt loop. You leaned down to him and whispered in his left ear, "I definitely can't wait until your better."  
Then you stared into Daryl's exited blue eyes as he tried to figure out what you meant. You leaned in and planted a soft kiss on Daryl's perfect lips and he kissed you back with a kiss full of passion.  
You heard boots shuffle and you turned around to see Rick standing in the cell entry way. The Sheriff looked at you as he asked, "Will you watch Carl while I go into town?"  
You nodded and said, "Yea, I will."  
Rick thanked you and walked down the hall to leave the prison.  
You turned to Daryl and promised him, "I'll come back as soon as Rick comes back."  
Daryl nodded and pulled you into him, kissing you lightly on your lips, you kissed him back, blushing like crazy. When you finally pulled away Daryl said, "I'll talk to you later then."  
You nodded, still blushing, "Ok." Then you left the room to go keep Carl out of trouble while Rick was gone.

Meanwhile...  
In Daryl's cell...

Daryl laid on his bed, staring at the wall. He looked over at the gate as he heard someone entering his cell. It was Merle.  
Merle walked over a corner of the room and picked up a chair. Having the chair, Merle came back over to the bed and sat the chair down then he sat on the chair and leaned forwards, directing his attention to Daryl.  
Daryl looked at his brother, "What do you want Merle?"  
Merle laughed forcefully, "What do I want? You know what I want little brother."  
Daryl rolled his eyes, "I tried Merle."  
Merle shook his head in disbelief, "I told ya to stay away from her and make her stay away from ya."  
Daryl, now irritated retorted, "Ya know what Merle? I don't have ta do anything ya say, I can do whatever I please and be in love with whoever I want ta."  
Merle spat on the floor in disgust, "Daryl, your in love with Megan?"  
Daryl hesitated, "Yes, I'm in love with Megan."  
Merle laughed, "Too bad you have to stay away from each other or she might get hurt."  
Daryl looked at Merle with pure hatred, "What are you getting at Merle? Ya already tried to shoot her."  
Merle looked around the room and lowered his voice, "Well, that didn't work, did it? No you had ta git en tha way! Listen Daryl, her life is no longer in danger, nah... I'll keep er alive and have myself some fun with er." Merle stood up and as he stood, Daryl tried to jump out of his bed but failed due to his immense pain from getting shot in the chest.  
Merle laughed at Daryl's hopeless attempt, "Best part about it little brother, is ya won't be able to stop me. An if you tell her or anyone about this, consequences will be worse. Your choice little bro."  
Merle smiled evilly at Daryl and then left the room.

As you walked up to Carl, the 13 year old came running up to you, "Hey Megan, how's Daryl?"

You smiled at Carl's concern and answered him the best you could, "He's doing fine and getting better."  
Carl nodded, "Can I see him?"  
You thought for a moment then answered him, "I don't think so right now, he needs to get his rest."  
Carl nodded in understanding then curiosity came around him, "You're in love with him, right?"  
You smiled and blushed a little bit, "I don't know, and it's none of your business." You said as you poked him in his chest with a laugh.  
Carl laughed back taunting you, "...Okay, I guess I'll go talk to Daryl now..."  
You laughed and shook your head felling like you were in High school again. "No Carl, don't talk to Daryl about me."  
Carl gave you a mischievous grin and ran off down the hall to Daryl's room. Just as he was about to run into the room, he skidded to a halt as Merle came to the door.  
Merle glared down at little Carl as he asked roughly, "What ya think yer doin here son?"  
Carl trembled a bit in Merle's presence and shakily answered, "...W-were here to see Daryl..."  
Merle grunted and exited the room then he walked down the hall away from you, going who knows where.  
You and Carl entered the room and found Daryl sitting up on his bed, he turned his attention to you as you walked in.  
Daryl stared at you with his icy blue gaze and you looked back at him, confused. Daryl spoke in a gruff, uncaring tone, "It's best you leave."  
You continued to approach him and he stood up weakly.  
You asked him, with concern, "Wouldn't it be better if you sat down? I don't want you hurting yourself."  
Daryl grunted, "How about you stop actin like ya care bout me? Leave me be woman." Daryl then sat down on his bed, not because he was listening to you but because his chest was hurting.  
You shook your head stubbornly at him and sat by him on his bed, "Before Merle came to see you you was just fine and in good spirits. You acted like you used to before Lori tried to get rid of me. You acted like you loved me."  
Daryl laughed when you said he acted like he loved you, "That's what it was dear, all a big act, I don't love you, your just a fool ta think I do."  
You shook your head again, "No, I know it wasn't an act Daryl. I would be a fool to believe it was an act... Daryl, why was Merle here anyway?"  
Daryl stared threateningly at you as he answered, "He stopped by ta wish me better. Something wrong with that?"  
You nodded, "Yea, coming from Merle there is."  
Daryl laid back on his bed and won the argument, "Just git outta here."  
You looked at Daryl with a tear in your eye. Carl, who had been listening intently to the whole fight, followed you out of Daryl's cell without a word.  
You realized how loud you and Daryl had been yelling at each other and briefly wondered who else was listening in on it.  
Once you and Carl returned to the Grimes cell, Carl asked you a question, "Daryl makes it hard for you to love him, doesn't he?"  
You nodded your head in agreement and tears began to stream down your face.

Carl walked over to you, his question hadn't been intended to make you cry. The 13 year old boy wrapped his arms around you in a hug. As you two stood there hugging, Carl apologized, "I'm sorry Megan, I didn't mean to make you cry."

You shook your head, "No, it's not your fault, I know you didn't mean to." You released Carl from the hug and asked in better spirits, "How about we just change the topic and get over this?"  
Carl nodded in agreement. You smiled and said, "I brought a few board games here with us, I'll just have to get them from my cell."  
Carl smiled, "It's been forever since I played board games like normal."  
You nodded in agreement and both of you walked across the hallway to your cell.  
You pulled out monopoly from under your bed and laid it out on the floor.  
By the time the game was over, Carl was doing his victory dance, little did he know you had let him win.  
A little after the game was over, Rick came to the door of your cell with a smile on his face, "Did Megan entertain you?"  
Carl nodded and said, "Yea, we played monopoly I was worried about you though." Then Carl ran up to his dad and gave him a huge welcome back sort of hug.  
You smiled, you were happy that Rick and Carl had a close bond.  
Once the sheriff and his son left your cell, you decided it was time for you to go and try to clear things up with Daryl.  
You walked to his cell and saw him  
laying on his bed, looking at a magazine. He looked over at you and you thought you saw a trace of a smile on his lips for a brief second.  
You smiled at him and walked over to his bed, "You in a better mood now?"  
Daryl shrugged, "A bit, I guess... but Megan, we gotta talk."  
You nodded with a smile on your face, "Is there something you would officially want to ask me?"  
Daryl thought for a moment, a sad expression crossed his face then he said, "No, Megan I'm sorry. I'm telling you we can't be together."  
You laughed slightly, "Daryl, you've said that so many times and we always stay together."  
Daryl stared intently into your eyes, "I mean it this time Megan."  
You looked at him unsure, "Why?"  
Daryl hesitated a moment before answering you, "It would be to risky."  
You laughed, thinking Daryl was just confused on what he wanted. You walked closer to Daryl's bed, "Oh, , I'm a risk taker." You winked at him.  
Daryl tried to fight back a smile but failed, he managed to say in a serious tone, "You don't understand."  
You rolled your eyes at him playfully, "I think I do."  
Then you climbed onto the bed with Daryl and laid down on top of him using your arms to keep yourself from putting pressure on his chest. You gently leaned down, still avoiding putting pressure on his chest.  
You kissed Daryl passionately and he kissed you back, it turned into a gentle make out session. You were making out with Daryl until Merle entered the room.  
Merle walked in, not taking his eyes off of you and his little brother. Merle smiled which made you nervous.  
Merle spoke to Daryl, "Looks like your busy, I'll talk to you later little brother."  
With that, Merle Dixon exited the cell with pride.


	13. Chapter 13

Daryl looked at you and muttered, "Ya should git off of me now."

You looked at him and nodded, getting off of him reluctantly. You climbed out of him bed and stood on the floor.

With complete silence, you left the cell and started back to your cell. When you were to your cell, you heard someone trudging behind you, you turned around to see Merle.

You rolled your eyes at the untrustworthy man and asked him, "What do you want Merle?"

Merle smirked at you and said, "I want to tell you something, a secret."

You looked at him and sighed, "I don't want to hear any of your secrets Merle, I could care less."

Merle raised his eyebrows at you and said, "Ah, what if it wasn't my secret?"

You thought for a moment, "What do you mean Merle? Also why would you tell me? You tried to kill me, remember?"

Merle laughed and answered you, "I mean I can tell you something about someone here, that someone being my brother. An I would tell ya because you deserve to know. As far as me trying to kill you... well, that's in the past."

You looked at the man skeptically, "Tell me then..."

Merle shook his head slowly, "Nah, not here, come with me an I'll tell ya."

You were about to object when Merle pulled a gun out of his belt and handed it to you, "Take this, if I try anything' shoot me."

You took Merle's gun and held it, ready to fire at any given moment, "I'm watching you Dixon."

Merle shrugged, "Alright."

You asked him, still unsure, "Where are we going?"

Merle smiled, "Jus follow me."

You nodded, "Lead the way."

Merle took the lead, walking right in front of you. You walked behind him with the gun held only inches away from his back. No part of you trusted Merle, but curiosity had overcome you. You followed him, looking around for your safety.

You were walking down a dark hallway and honestly, it freaked you out. You was afraid to tell Merle how sacred you were, but for once, you were very uneasy.

The hall kept getting darker and darker until you could barely see Merle in front of you, cautiously, you asked him, "Merle?"

Merle responded to you immediately, "Yeah?"

You continued your question, "Where are we? And where are you taking me?"

Merle laughed, "We are in the prison and, I am taking you to a room."

Your stomach flipped uneasy, "Why, are you taking me to a room? You could tell me the secret right here."

Merle laughed, "You realized that after bout 15 minutes?"

You gulped, "Yea..."

Merle sighed, "There is no secret Megan, only fun."

You tried to back away from Merle but you accidentally stepped on a pop can and crushed it. Merle turned around quickly and grabbed you by your arm. He said in a threatening tone, "I wouldn't try an run if I were you."

You struggled against Merle but he was to strong for you. You pleaded and begged, "Please let me go, let me go and I won't tell anyone what you tried to do."

Merle laughed and shook his head at you, "How about I do what I'm gonna and you still don't tell anyone."

You struggled to free yourself from Merle's grip but it only tightened on you. He dragged you to a white door that had a lock on it and unlocked it. He opened the door and the two of you went inside.

Merle went over to the wall and turned the light on. The lights flickered for a minute and then came on lighting up the entire room.

You watched nervously as Merle locked the door behind the two of you. You looked around and was surprised to see that the room was remarkably clean.

You asked your kidnapper, "There aren't any walkers in here?"

Merle shook his head, "Nope, this is my room, when I found it, it was locked so I made a lock pick. Even when I first opened it, there weren't any walkers in here. The place was also very clean although I cleaned it up even more. Pretty nice eh?"

You nodded in agreement, trying to get on Merle's good side, "Yea, you think someone was holding up in here and then the went out to look around and got killed?"

Merle nodded, "Yea, most likely."

Merle walked over to his bed and pointed at it, "Get yer pretty little self over here so we can have some fun. "

Nervousness engulfed you as you came to the realization that your plan had not worked. You held up your gun, aiming at Merle. You threatened him, "I will shoot."

Merle laughed at you and threw his arms up in the air, "Shoot, I dare you."

You were shaking at this point, you didn't think Daryl would ever forgive you if you shot Merle. Then again, Merle shot him and Merle was also trying to rape you.

You pulled the trigger, making your decision. When you pulled the trigger though, there was only a faint clicking noise and nothing came out. You dropped the gun in disbelief. Then you said, "You tricked me."

Merle laughed, "Right I did my dear, ya really think I would give ya a loaded gun? I'm not stupid."

You were nervous beyond words now. Merle reached over to a table and grabbed a gun. He aimed it at ya and said, "Now this ones loaded."

Merle kept his gun pointed at you and demanded as he pointed to his bed, "Now git over here or it's gonna be worse."

You gulped and went over to Merle, you stood right next to him and looked at his bed you said in disgust, "I'm not having sex with you."

Merle laughed, "Why not? Were gonna die anyways."

You retorted to the man, "I'd rather."

Merle grunted annoyed at you, "What makes Daryl so much better?"

Immediately you said, "Daryl's Daryl and I'm in love with Daryl and everything he is, that's all that's to it."

Merle rolled his eyes and pushed you onto his bed without warning. He crashed down on top of you and tried to kiss you. You turned your head, avoiding Merle's lips.

Merle, clearly frustrated took his makeshift knife hand that replaced his right hand because he had to cut it off to get out of hand cuffs and held the knifes dangerously sharp blade up to your throat. He leaned down and whispered in your ear, now be a good girl so I don't have to hurt you now.

You nodded, scared out of your mind and Merle pulled the blade away from your throat. He stared at your lips and then came creasing back down again. He kissed you roughly, with a kiss obviously meant to hurt. You forced yourself to kiss him back which felt like that would kill you.

Merle smiled and pulled away from you saying, "See, this is nice, I'm not having to hurt you and your getting the hang of it."

You shuddered and Merle looked at you and asked, "Am I that repulsive?"

You nodded, "You truthfully are."

Merle shrugged uncaring, "Fine but yer still gonna do what I tell ya. Now be good and get off my bed.

You got up, relieved to have a break. You stood there and stated at Merle with disgust. You half thought that Daryl would be kicking down Merle's door any minute and come to rescue you.

Merle looked at you up and down checking you out. At the thought of Merle checking you out, bike rose in your throat and it was all you could do to keep yourself from vomiting out of disgust.

Merle continued to stare at you and then spoke, "Alright, take off your shirt and pants."

You stubbornly shook your head at the man and said, "Theres no force on earth."

Merle laughed sarcastically, "Would you just stop? Your taking all the fun out of this game. Now do you want to see your boyfriend again or not?"

You thought for a moment about what to do then decided, "You wouldn't purposefully kill Daryl, he's all you got."

Merle nodded in agreement, "It's not his life I'm threatening." He raised the gun to point it at you, "Now, take off yer shirt... an pants."

You stood, staring at Merle, trying to think of a way out of this. Trying to stall him you asked, "Just think, why are you doing this? Why me?"

Merle sat down on his bed and sighed, "Cause Megan, before ya came ta the group, the person Daryl cared about most was me. Then you came along and he fell for ya. He now puts ya before me, you come first, he cares more about you. You make him happy Megan. I'm his big bro, it's my job to make him happy. I have no happiness, I have evil for breakfast." Merle took his shirt off and said to you, "Now let's go!"

You shook your head, "I still don't understand what hurting me is going to accomplish."

Merle sighed, "Gosh woman! If I would have known how stubborn you were gonna be, I would have brought Andrea down here. Now, what is gonna accomplish is, hurting Daryl. He took my girl from me once Before the apocalypse. Now I'm getting back at him. Also Megan, I know how much you mean to Rick, he's the guy who cost me my hand." Merle showed you his knife hand as proof, "I need ta git back at him for that. Every one loves ya, every one has done something to make me hate them so I'm getting back at them through you."

You looked in continued disgust at Merle and said without thinking, "You're crazy."

Merle laughed, "Ya know what is gonna make this worth it? When I tell Daryl that I raped you and it's all his fault. It's gonna tear him apart. I warned him, I did. I told him if he didn't stay away from you, I would kill ya. Then I saw you two kissing in the woods. Well I shot at you, trying to kill you but my brother took the bullet an took it like a man.

Then I warned him again after I shot him, I warned him that if he didn't stay away from you then I would rape you. I caught you two making out and here we are now."

You stared at Merle, "What's the point though?"

Merle sighed, "The point is to turn him tougher, git him like me, mean and ruthless. Uncaring, evil even. You don't see it now, but before you came along, he was a lot like me. I need to make him suffer, go through pain and torment. Get back at him for everything."

You turned away from Merle trying to control yourself when you looked back at Merle, you said, "Your twisted."

Merle laughed and said, "Thanks baby." Merle then walked over to you and said, "Now, you've stalled enough." he grabbed you and dragged you over to the bed slamming you down.

He climbed on top of you and used his knife hand to cut your shirt off.

You woke up the next morning only in your underwear and bra. Bile rose in your throat with disgust. You looked around but Merle wasn't in the room. You thanked God Merle wasn't in the room because you feared what Merle would do to you.

You slowly got up out of bed, discovering that your whole body ached. You grabbed your pants off the floor and put on your battered shirt that Merle had cut down the middle.

You could keep the shirt closed if you held it right. Lastly you put on your socks and shoes. You walked achingly over to the door and opened it. Merle had luckily left it unlocked. Part of you just wanted to leave this place. To get away from everyone for you were to embarrassed for your friends to discover Merle had raped you.

You were scared to face Merle again. You took the flashlight Merle had sitting by the door and turned it on as you began walking down the hall.

Finally after about 20 minutes, you arrived at your cell. You didn't want to talk to anyone or accept what Merle did to you. You went into your cell and shut the door behind you making sure it was locked. You then laid down on your bed and fell into a careless sleep.

You woke up to someone rattling the bars of your cell. You looked over to see Merle standing there with a grin on his face, "Hey sleeping beauty, ya lock yer man out eh? You were red hot last night." Merle chuckled at the disgust evident on your face then continued, "We can do it again tonight if you want."

You saw Carl walk past your cell and you knew instantly that Carl had paid attention to what Merle had said.

You rolled your eyes at Merle, "Why don't you just leave me alone Merle? You got what you wanted."

Merle shrugged, "It was too much fun. Say, why don't ya come out here and give ol Merle a kiss eh?"

You hid your face in your pillow and muttered, "I wish you'd just kill me."

Merle laughed at your misery and walked down the hall, most likely heading to his room.

Meanwhile...

Carl had heard Merle talking to Megan and he thought that he would tell Daryl heads up to tell him that Megan was now with Merle. Little did Carl know that Megan was only with Merle by force.

Carl walked into Daryl's room and Daryl studied the boy as he walked in with a serious expression. Daryl asked with curiosity, "What's going on?"

Carl sat down in a chair beside Daryl's bed and said, "Daryl, it's Megan."

Daryl questioned Carl, "What about Megan?"

Carl informed Daryl of what he had acquired knowledge of, "Megan, is sleeping with your brother."

Daryl's face faded white with shock then grew red with anger, "What? How do you know this?"

Carl hesitated a moment, "I heard Merle say Megan was red hot last night and then he said that they could do it again tonight if she wanted."

Daryl stared intently at Carl, "What did Megan say?"

Carl shrugged, "Nothing."

Daryl pondered the facts a moment before he asked, "Was anything outta place?"

Carl nodded, "Megan's cell door was closed and she was laying on her bed."

Daryl nodded, disgusted, "Thank you Carl, you should leave now."

Carl nodded and obediently left Daryl's cell, walking down the hall to his own.

Back to Megan...

You laid on your bed, fear, shock, rage, anger and hatred pulsing through your veins. You had never felt so weak, and vulnerable before. All you wanted was to be in Daryl's arms, to confide in him, everything, you wanted to tell him how much you love him, how you feel for him. How much you need him.

Your wish came true as Daryl walked up to your cell door and asked you gently, "Are you okay Megan?"

You shook your head confirming how much you were hurt.

Daryl hesitated for a moment before asking, "Can I come in?"

You nodded and got up out of your bed. You grabbed your cell keys off your table and walked over and unlocked your cell door.

Without speaking, you walked over to your bed and sat back down on your bed.

Daryl walked over and sat next to you silently. He looked at your shirt and asked considerately, "Your shirt... would you like a new one."

You muttered to Daryl, "... That would be nice..."

Daryl nodded and started to get up. You grabbed his arm though and made him sit back down, "I'll come with you... just don't leave me alone."

Daryl nodded in understanding and the two of you walked to his cell together.

You and Daryl walked back to his cell in comfortable silence. Once you reached his cell, Daryl went through his things and pulled out a flannel shirt that still had the sleeves.

He asked you holding the shirt up, "It'll be a little big on you, but will it work?"

You nodded, still unwilling to speak much. You were happy that Daryl understood you and didn't press you to talk to him.

Daryl handed you the shirt kindly and said, "I'll leave the room if ya want."

You shook your head, "Nah, it's fine..." While Daryl was watching, you took off your battered shirt.

As you took off your shirt, you revealed cuts and bruises from the night before. You winced, it hurt you to move.

Daryl watched you with concern, noticing your new cuts and bruises he came over to you and politely took his flannel. He looked gently into your eyes and you knew he was pitying you when he said, "Here, turn around an I'll help you get the short on."

You turned around so that your back was facing Daryl. Daryl held the flannel for you as you put your arms in the sleeves. After the shirt was on, he went in front of you and buttoned it up.

He smiled once the shirt was all buttoned up, "You look cute Megan, ya need ta wear my shirts more often."

You smiled for the first time since last night then walked over and say on Daryl's bed. You pondered your thoughts for a moment and then spoke to Daryl in almost a whisper, "I want to get out of here, and leave."

Daryl nodded in understanding, "Where would we go?"

You shrugged, "You should stay here, the group needs you..."

Daryl looked at you in disbelief, "I can't believe you would think I would let you leave without me. As far as the group needing me, they'll be fine."

You looked at Daryl, "If I do this Daryl, what will they think? They'll be so ticked when they found out you left to... they need you for protection.

Daryl shrugged, "They got Rick an a lot of fences. They will be fine."

You shook your head, "Daryl, just because I'm leaving doesn't mean you have to."

Daryl stared intently at you and put both of his hands on your face. He lowered his voice ands spoke in a tone so serious and emotional, it sent shivers down your spine, "You, are all I got here. Ya here me? Your all I got, an I'm not about to let you slip away from me. Not again, not ever."

You stared into Daryl's gorgeous blue eyes and a warm sensation was sent throughout your body and you blushed.

Daryl pulled away and smiled, "Look at that, yer blushin."

You laughed, "Sorry, that's just the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me."

Daryl laughed, "Don't ya go tellin anyone what I said. I don't need people thinking I have a 'sweet' side ta me."

You nodded, grinning at Daryl with amusement, "Your secret is safe with me."

Daryl shook his head jokingly, "When ya want to leave?"

You thought for a moment, "I don't really, these people are goofed friends to me, I just don't feel safe anymore."

Daryl nodded in understanding, "I see why... I'll fix that fer us though."

Daryl looked at you and ordered you to stay there.

Daryl walked down the hallway, heading to Merle's room, when he finally arrived there, he opened the door and walked in to see Merle looking at a playboy magazine.

Merle looked up and smiled at his little brother holding the magazine up, "Hey, Daryl, don't ya think Megan would make a good model."

Disgust rises in Daryl but he hid it with his rock solid emotions, "We have a problem Merle,"

Merle perked up, "A problem eh? Was Megan missing me again? Dang I told her to keep us a secret."

It was becoming harder for Daryl to control himself but he did and ignored the taunts Merle threw at him. "We've got some problems outside, there is some people that won't leave, they claim to know you."

Merle raised an eyebrow, "Really eh? What's there names?"

Daryl shrugged convincingly, "They wouldn't tell me, they only told me they wanted to see you."

Merle nodded, "Alright little brother, where they at?"

Daryl started back to the door, "Outside, follow me."

The Dixon brothers walked down the hallway until they reached a door at the end of the hall that leads outside. Daryl opened the door and walked outside with Merle there was rows and rows of fences out there, designed to keep the prisoners inside. Each row of fencing had only one gate and each gate had two or three dead bolts on them so that no one could escape. Luckily though, in the row of fencing that Daryl and Merle stood in, there was no fencing.

Merle looked around and concluded looking out into the distance, "I don't see any people waiting for me."

At Merle's words, Daryl quickly turned around and slipped back inside the prison, he closed and locked the door behind him.

He locked the door that held Merle outside, the door he didn't have the key to.

Daryl could hear Merle yelling at him through the door. Daryl practically ignored him though until Merle started yelling threats about Megan, "When I it outta here, that girls gonna wish I killed her. I went easy on er last night Daryl, you should of heard her screaming for you. She honestly thought that you were gonna knock down the door and save her." Daryl, rage clearly getting at him yelled back at his brother, "Merle, I swear shut up! I'm giving you more of a chance than I should!"

Merle laughed sarcastically, "Oh really? Leaving me out here to starve to death, kill myself or try to escape and git bit? Those are real good choices little bro."

Daryl ran his hands through his hair, "It's you or Megan Merle, I'm willing to protect her with my life. It didn't have to be this way but your too much of a threat."

Merle laughed at Daryl's desperation and taunted him more, "Ya know, Megan is pretty amazing. She tried to shoot me ya know... then she realized I had the loaded gun. I explained to her why I had to do it she seemed to understand it was your fault. She hats you Daryl, she hates you. You were warned about the consequences but yet made out with the girl anyways. This is all on you Daryl, I hope it was worth it... she screamed and pleaded. By the way, was she able to find a new shirt?"

Daryl was now enraged out of his control and with all his strength, he lunged at the door kicking it down.

Merle smiled, "Ahh there's my little brother."

Daryl nodded with pure hatred, "Yeah... here's yet little brother."

Daryl lunged at Merle, knocking him to the ground. The brothers fought in a rage full battle and Daryl punched Merle right in his jaw. There was a sickening crack, confirming Merle's jaw broken. Daryl hissed dangerously at his brother, "No one, touches Megan."

Merle laughed at Daryls threat, "I believe I did."

Daryl stared at Merle, any sanity lost. Merle raised his knife hand and rested it gently on Daryl's throat.

Daryl swallowed and Merle threatened him, "Now Daryl, you should know that Merle always wins. Now, be a good little brother and git off me with your hands in the air."

Daryl, slowly got off Merle and stood up with his hands in the air, a million thoughts racing through his mind. Merle stood up also and let his knife hand drop to the ground in surrender. Merle deceitfully tried to reason with his brother, "Daryl, let's just call a truce, like real brothers would. We can walk back together like nothing happened."

Daryl nodded and noticed Merle's good hand slowly slipping down into his belt.

Daryl quickly spun his crossbow around and raised it at Merle. Before Merle had time to react. Daryl sent an arrow flying right into Merle's skull. Merle's mouth dropped open and his last words were, "your getting like me."

Merle then crumpled to the ground and his face turned white as he took his last breath.

Daryl walked over to his dead brother and pulled the arrow out of his skull like he would do to a walker.

Daryl then rested against a wall as he stared at Merle's lifeless form. He cleaned the blood and gore off his arrow until the arrow shone like brand new. Part of him couldn't believe what he had done, he had killed his brother.

He felt a new strength rising up inside of him. A strength that seemed to give him much more power. A strength that let him know, he would protect Megan at all costs.

Daryl then walked silently back to the cells, trying to deal with what he had done.

Megan...

You went over to Daryl's bed, awaiting for him to come and tell you why he left. You laid down, cuddling up on the bed and sighed, putting your head on the pillow, you closed your eyes and went to sleep.

~Dream~

You were standing in the woods

with Daryl. You were hugging him,

he was telling you that he would

never let you go.

He held you close to him, you

looked up at him and he leaned

down towards you. Your lips met

in an unspoken sweetness.

You heard a branch crack and you

turned to see what it was. You

watched in fear as Merle emerged

from the woods.

The man walked up to you and

Daryl, danger glinting in

his eyes.

Daryl met Merle's gaze and

released you from his grasp. Merle

grabbed you harshly and dragged

you away from Daryl and into the

woods.

You looked back to Daryl

screaming for him to save you, but

but the man you thought to be your

hero just stood there, staring

after you.

~End of dream~

*Reality**

You were woken up by someone shaking you and saying your name repeatedly. You opened your eyes and swiftly grabbed your knife from your belt loop, you held it to the person who had woken you ups throat.

Daryl raised his hands in surrender, "Shh... it's just me Megan, calm down."

You lowered your knife, feeling guilty of holding it to your boyfriends throat.

Once your knife was lowered, you slipped it back into your belt loop. You stood up from the bed attentively and walked over to Daryl, tears still streaming down your face from your dream. Daryl embraced you with his strong arms and ran his fingers through your hair.

You stood with Daryl like this for minutes until you had calmed down significantly.

You pulled away from Daryl and walked over to his bed, sitting down. Daryl sat beside you and asked you softly, "When I came in ere' you were screaming my name... are you ok? Ya scared me."

You nodded slowly, "Yea... just a bad dream."

Daryl nodded in understanding and asked cautiously, "...Merle?..."

You nodded with a dread stream of tears beginning to fall down your face. Daryl immediately looked as if he regretted asking the question. Then pulled you into him, holding you close, trying to comfort you.

You leaned into Daryl more and listened to him as he quietly spoke to you, "Shhh... everything will be alright, Merle's gone, he won't ever hurt you again..."

There was slight pain in Daryl's voice as he said that Merle was gone, which made you wonder what he meant. You shook off your thoughts and let yourself drift off back to sleep.

You awoke the next morning, you looked around the room for Daryl, but he was not there, confused, you got up out of bed and stretched. You turned to see a note sitting on the chair next to the bed.

The note had your name on it in a sloppy handwriting that you recognized as Daryl's.

You picked up the note and read it, it said:

Megan,

I'm out hunting and dealing with the aftermath of what I did last night... I'll explain later. If you need comfort while I'm gone, Rick's there fer ya.

Daryl

You smiled and folded up the note, tucking it into your pocket, you went off to find Rick, you needed to get your mind off of what happened with Merle two nights ago.

You found the sherif sitting in his room, writing a list down. You walked into the room and pulled up a chair by Rick, curiously looking at the list he was making. You asked the sherif, "Do you need someone to go into town to get that stuff?"

Rick looked up at you and nodded, "Yea, Glenn and Maggie are going to go..."

You waited a moment then suggested, "I could go with them, to help out a bit."

Rick shook his head, "Nah, you need to rest, after the traumatic experience you had a couple nights ago."

You wasn't sure of what to say to that as you were a little confused, how did Rick know that Merle raped you? You questioned the sherif hesitantly because it was painful for you to bring up the memory, "How much did Daryl tell you?"

Rick looked at you with genuine concern in his eyes, "He told me enough... look Megan, if you ever need someone to talk to..."

You shook your head, "I'd rather not talk about it."

Rick nodded in understanding, "It's okay, you don't have to but if you need the weight off your shoulders... me and the rest of the group are here for you."

You nodded in thanks, "Thank you Rick, I really appreciate it, everyone in the group has become close friends of mine. It's just it's to personal for me right now..."

Rick continued to make his list, "Alright, well Daryl left a few hours ago, so he should be back soon."

With that, you nodded and silently left the room.

You walked down the prison hallway and exited the prison through the main door.

Outside, you stepped over decaying walker corpses and tried your best not to gag at the foul smell. You took your knife out of your belt loop and killed some walkers as they approached you. Finally, you were out of the gates and you started to head towards the woods.

As you headed to the woods, Daryl came out of them. A smile formed on your lips, lifting your mood and you ran to Daryl, throwing your arms around him lovingly.

Daryl let his crossbow slide gently to the ground and returned your hug. You pulled away from him slightly and looked up at him and into his crystal blue eyes. You asked him, "So what did you do last night that you had to deal with the aftermath of?"

Daryl said so quietly under his breath that you struggled you catch his words, "I... killed Merle... for what he did to you..."

You looked up at Daryl in shock and saw pain in his blue eyes as he spoke those words. Not knowing what to do after that, you gave Daryl another hug, trying to comfort him.

In that minute, you knew that no matter what he says, Daryl Dixon loves you...

Daryl was your hero, and you loved him for that.

You pulled away from him and stared into his perfect blue eyes. Finally, dropping your gaze, you took his right hand in your left one and the two of you walked back to the prison in companionable silence.

Once you got back to the prison, you went inside and you went to your cell, Daryl to his. You laid back on your bed, staring at the ceiling while thinking about your day.

You heard the trudging of heavy boots in the hall outside your cell. You couldn't help but to notice they sounded a lot like Merles.

Inside your mind, you knew Merle was dead but you still couldn't help but recognize the familiar sound of his boots.

The sound made you hold your breath and cower against the wall your bed was connected to. You waited for Carl to pass by your room and the sound of his boots to fade away.

Once the harmless little boy was out of sight, you made your way down to Daryl's cell.

You walked into Daryl's room to find him cleaning the arrows of his crossbow. He looked up when you entered the room and a sweet smile spread across the mans face.

You walked over and sat on the bed beside him, asking him, "Is it okay if I stay with you? I think I would be safer..."

Daryl nodded and said kindly, "Anything for you Megan. Are you wanting to go to sleep now?"

You nodded, "I just want to forget what happened."

Daryl sat down his arrows on the ground with a clank and pulled you into him, he whispered soothingly into your left ear, "I would do anything for you to forget that night. I would die for you to forget that night."

You laid there, content in Daryl's strong arms, you snuggled against him for his warmth.

You stayed in Daryl's arms until Rick walked into the room. He addressed you and Daryl, "Glenn and Maggie are missing..."

You quickly sat up in alarm, "What do you mean missing? Maybe they just decided to go somewhere or they were looking for something..."

Rick shrugged, "That's where you two come in, I need you to go to the family general in town and look for them, they've been gone way longer than normal and that's where they went to get the supplies."

You nodded at the sherif, "Yea, we'll go."

Rick thanked you and Daryl then exited the room.

Both you and Daryl got up off the bed and you looked at him with mischief gleaming in your eyes. Daryl looked at you in confusion and asked, "What?"

You smiled, "Maybe Maggie and Glenn just want to get away from the group for a little time of their own..."

Daryl smirked at you, "Maybe... like that one time... between the two of us... at the gas station?"

You winked at Daryl, "Yes sir, Mr. Dixon." You smiled at him and walked over to him, placing both your hands on his muscular chest, your lips met his in a passionate kiss.

Daryl kissed you back, his blue eyes shimmering with delight. He wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you into him more. You smirked and broke away from him, knowing that if you didn't stop that you were gonna do more making out than looking for Maggie and Glenn.

Daryl looked at you, confused, "What's wrong?"

You laughed, "Nothing... it's just, if we wanna find Maggie and Glenn, we better go before we forget... to look for them."

Daryl groaned in slight irritation, "Fine... did you tell anyone about... er-"

You smirked, "The gas station?"

Daryl rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Yea... the gas station."

You nodded, "Yup, I told Andrea that me and you did it."

Daryl looked confused, "Only her?"

You laughed and cut Daryl off with a kiss. Then you said to him after pulling away, "You want everyone to know or something?"

Daryl rubbed the back of his neck again awkwardly.

You studied Daryl for a moment then started to exit the room you taunted Daryl in a joking voice, "Alright, I'll go tell the whole group."

Daryl stood there for a moment unsure if you would really announce it to the group or not, when you started to walk down the hall, Daryl ran up to you, grabbed you by your arm and pulled you back into his room. He flung you down on his bed and climbed on top of you.

You felt kinda awkward because anyone who walked by Daryl's room would be able to see both of you. Yet, you made no attempt to change the position. Instead, you stared up into his cool blue eyes, almost mesmerized by them.

Daryl leaned down and whispered sexily into your left ear, slightly brushing it with his lips, "What happened at the gas station, stays between us."

You nodded, and then put your hands on his chest again in a flirty manner. You said to him, "Get off me Dixon, we have better things to do."

Daryl, hesitated at your words. He remembered you telling him you had better things to do when he was smoking at the... gas station. Now you were telling him to get off you because you had better things to do than make out with him.

Finally, he got off you, letting you up. You got off the bed and walked out of his room. You headed down the hall towards the main exit of the prison with Daryl following close behind you. He asked you with obvious confusion, "Wait, what better things do we have to do?"

You smirked and shook your head at Daryl, not even bothering to look back at him as you continued down the hall and exited out the door.

Daryl caught up with you and you both climbed into his truck instead of his motorcycle because you felt like it.

He got in the drivers seat and you got in the passengers seat. Daryl drove to the family general store. It took you about an hour to get there but, you got there safely.

Daryl parked his truck in the parking lot and both of you got out of the truck and went inside the store. Inside, you looked around for Glenn and Maggie, but found no trace of them.

You decided that before you and Daryl left the store that you should look around for anything useful to the group. You went and grabbed a shopping basket and filled it with body wash for men and women, along with shampoo and a whole lot of razors.

Once you had that stuff in the basket, you wandered around the store some more and found some condemns on a shelf. You smiled thinking of a joke you could play on Daryl. You stuck the condemns in your back pocket and walked over to your boyfriend.

You sat your shopping basket on the ground and informed him, "No sign of Glenn or Maggie, but I got some stuff for hygiene."

Daryl nodded, "Alright, that's good."

You managed to keep a straight face as you added, "I also found something else that might come in handy,." you pulled the box of condemns out of your back pocket and showed it to him. You smiled saying, "We may need these."

Daryl blushed, his face instantly turning red, "Megan, put those back."

You let a smile come across your face when Daryl told you to put the condemns back. You headed back to the shelf you got then from and acted like you were putting them back, instead though, you slid them down your right boot. Thinking to yourself it might be a good idea to keep them.

You headed back towards Daryl and picked up your shopping basket, then the two of you went back to his truck. As you were going to the truck, you realized that Glenn's car was parked to the right of Daryl's truck. You told Daryl about it and it was concluded that Maggie and Glenn had been here at some point.

Taking this into consideration, you also noticed a shopping basket in front of Glenn's car that appeared as if Glenn and Maggie had just abandoned it. You picked up the basket, cautiously. Then you and Daryl clinked in your truck and headed back to the prison.

Once you got back to the prison, you and Daryl brought the supplies inside and put them in the storage cell. Then you reported back to Rick, the sherif approached you with concern in his eyes, "Did you find anything?"

You nodded, "Yea, Glenn's car was parked at the front of the store and a shopping basket in front of it. Only... no Glenn and Maggie."

Rick sighed, "That's unusual for them, we need to have a team searching for them."

Daryl nodded in agreement, "Who do you recommend?"

Rick thought for a moment, "I think maybe, you, Megan, and me and Andrea..."

You nodded, "Who will lead the group while your gone?"

Rick had an immediate answer for that, "Undoubtably, T-Dog... he has a high level of respect around here and shouldn't have any trouble."

You agreed with Rick.

Daryl asked, "So when do we leave?"

Rick looked outside and concluded, "First thing tomorrow morning, it's going to be getting dark soon."

Daryl nodded in agreement and then you and Daryl walked off to his room.

You both sat on his bed and you leaned back on it, kicking your boots off you sighed, wondering how long it would take Daryl to notice the condemns.

It didn't take him very long, as soon as you took off your boots, the condemns fell to the ground and Daryl picked them up. He turned and looked at you, an evident smirk playing across his face, "I thought I told ya ta put these back?"

You smiled with a slight laugh and asked, "Since when do I listen?"

Daryl sighed and threw the box across the room. He laid down beside you and wrapped his arms around you, closing his eyes he muttered, "Ya don't."

You were woken up the next morning by Daryl climbing out of bed. He was trying not to wake you up but with no success. As he was climbing across you to get off the bed, you grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down on you.

He looked at you affectionately and lowered his body totally down on yours, using his arms to support himself. He kissed you passionately along your jawbone and worked his way to your lips. You kissed him back and sparks flew.

Somehow in the process, Daryl's shirt made its way to the ground. Before you went any further, you asked Daryl, "Will you get the condemns."

Daryl nodded, reluctantly climbing off you, he walked over to where he threw the box the night before. He looked around on the floor, then turned to you. Confusion crossed his face when he said, "They're not here."

You sighed and buttoned your flannel shirt back up. Then you got off the bed and walked over to Daryl, "What do you mean they're not there?"

Daryl shrugged, "There just, not there..."

You were irritated because obviously someone had been in you and Daryl's room when you were asleep and they stole from you. You sighed, "Put your shirt on, we have to go look for Glenn and Maggie anyways."

Daryl laughed and you grinned at him, "What's so funny?"

Daryl smirked as he picked up his shirt, "I never thought I'd hear ya tell me ta put my shirt on."

This made you laugh and you rolled your eyes as you walked out the door. Daryl followed you, putting his shirt on then slinging his crossbow over his shoulders.

You walked in the main part of the prison meeting up with the ready of the group except for Glenn and Maggie obviously. Rick looked sternly at you and Daryl when you entered the room. Everyone else settled their gazes on you and Daryl also.

You felt awkward about everyone staring at you and didn't look directly at anyone. Daryl spoke up, breaking the silence, "We're sorry if we were late, no one told us what time we needed to be up by."

Rick didn't say anything right away but instead, uncrossed his arms and held up you and Daryl's box of condemns. The sherif asked sternly, "Why did Carl find these on the floor this morning when he went to wake you up?"

Your face turned bright red as you tried to come to you and Daryl's defense, "It's not what it looks like, we didn't do anything."

Daryl stared right back at Rick, then cast his gaze throughout the group, "I don't believe any of you people have a right to question me and Megan's personal belongings," He returned his stare to Rick, "And your son didn't have the right to take what wasn't his. You should know that bein a cop."

Rick nodded slowly, In agreement turning to Carl, "Daryl has a point there bud, you can't be takin people's things."

Carl looked down in slight disappointment, "They shouldn't have had them latin out like that."

Daryl jumped on Carl's lane excuse saying, "They were in OUR room, our room, our things, our privacy."

Rick appeared to be quite mad at Daryl raising his voice at his son, he stared at you and Daryl clearly on edge, "If you want your privacy, then keep your things private, no one wants to know about what you two do with those things or that you even have them!"

Daryl and you didn't say anything back to Rick, you just let him win the discussion. You held back your tears even though it was hard, your best guy friend since the apocalypse started just yelled at you, for real. You just wanted to cry, you didn't know Carl was going to come in the room and see them.

There was guilt evident in Ricks eyes as he realized he had upset you. Daryl could also tell you were upset so he pulled him closer to you, wrapping his arm around your waist.

Daryl asked Rick, Letting his voice fall emotionless, "When are we leaving?"

Rick took a moment and answered Daryl, "Now."

You, Daryl, Andrea and Rick all wished the group luck while you were gone on your search for Glenn and Maggie. Rick also handed temporary leadership of the group over to T-Dog while you were gone because T-Dog was the strongest and smartest person not going on the rescue mission.

Finally, you, Daryl, Andrea and Rick all exited the prison and went out to the cars. Rick climbed into the drivers seat of his 5 seated truck and Andrea climbed into the passenger seat beside him. You and Daryl though, sat in the back seats of the truck.

You drove on in silence until Andrea spoke up, questioning you, "So Megan, are you going to tell us why you had those condemns?"

You laughed at your best friend, "Look, your my best friend, I'll talk to you later..."

Andrea laughed at you and turned back around to face the road, staring intently ahead. Daryl looked at you giving you a, your-really-going-to-tell-her look.

You shrugged and nodded. You looked around the backseat until you found a pen and paper. You grabbed the pen and paper off the ground and wrote:

"Daryl,

Why do you have to be so incredibly sexy?"

Daryl took the note and responded with a smirk,

"Can't help it babe, why are you so irresistible?"

When you read what he read, you immediately felt yourself blushing with an uncontrollable smile on your face. Daryl Dixon had just called you irresistible. You wrote on the paper,

"Cause your a dork ;)

We can test my irresistableness though, when we get back to the prison..."

Daryl looked at you with a smile on his face and wrote,

"Definitely."

Andrea looked back at you when you took the note from Daryl and laughed, "Are you sexting?"

You tried to act surprised when you said, "No... we don't have cellphones now do we?"

Andrea laughed and you took the opportunity to question her, "You know you want Rick, don't ya?"

You laughed at the sherif as he looked through the mirror and pointed a finger at you with a smile evident on his face.

Andrea quietly nodded to you and mouthed the words, "Oh yea."

Andrea turned back around and you rolled your eyes at her.

All four of you sat in the car in silence until you arrived at the thrift store where Glenn's car was parked.

Rick got out of the car with Daryl and signaled you and Andrea to stay put.

You nodded in understanding and climbed up into the drivers seat of the truck to sit with Andrea.

You looked at her, ready to tell her what was going on with you and Daryl, "So you really want to know, huh?"

Andrea nodded, "Yea, we're best friends, we tell each other everything."

You felt guilty when Andrea said that because you still hadn't told her about Merle. You didn't want to tell her but then you didn't want to feel like you were keeping a huge thing from her either. Mostly because, she is your best friend. You were deciding not to tell her when she questioned you about your hesitance, "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

You didn't really want to admit that you weren't okay but you couldn't hold it back any longer. Tears started to flow down your cheeks.

You shook your head as you managed to choke out, "No, I- I'm not okay."

Andrea looked at you with concern, "Do you want to talk about it?"

You nodded slowly, "It might make me feel a little better, I'm not going into details though..."

Andrea nodded, "Alright, that's fine."

Collecting yourself only enough to speak a few words you revealed, "M-Merle raped me."

Andrea looked at you in shock tears filling her eyes as well, "He raped you?"

You nodded, "Yea..."

Andrew gave you a hug and you hugged her back. Your friend cautiously asked you, "Does anyone else know."

You hesitated for a moment then nodded, "Yea, Daryl... and Rick."

Andrea looked at you again, surprised, "Rick didn't say anything to me about it..."

You shrugged, "Daryl talked to him, he might have told him not to tell anyone."

Andrea nodded in agreement, "Maybe, d-did Merle say anything?"

You nodded, still crying, "He tried to blame it all on Daryl."

Andrea rolled her eyes in disgust, "He's demented... I'll kill him, I swear."

You shook your head, "Daryl already did kill him... he killed his own brother for me..."

Andrea looked at you sympathetically then brought a new subject up "So about you and Daryl this morning..."

You blushed thinking back to that morning then you said, "I love him."

Andrea smiled at you and awed.

You went on, "We almost did it... again... but we couldn't find the condemns because Carl took them."

Andrea laughed at you, "That would have been you and Daryl's?"

You finished her sentence, "Second time... because of the Gas Station."

You and Andrea laughed.

Andrea made fun of you, "A gas station, how romantic..."

You laughed, play punching her in the shoulder.

Andrea looked in thought for a moment then said, "It's a good thing Carl took the condemns when he did though or he could have walked in on you two."

You laughed, "Rick shouldn't let Carl check up on me and Daryl if all people like that."

Andrea nodded, "True."

You saw the men coming back to the truck, empty handed and you climbed back to the back seats so that Rick could sit up front.

By the time the men reached the truck, all signs that you had been crying were gone.

Daryl and Rick climbed into the truck and Rick looked to be in a bad mood as he said, "It seems as if someone just took them."

You looked at the sherif in shock, "Took them?"

Rick nodded, "We can drive around and see if we can find anywhere they could be... if not though, we'll have to camp out for the night and continue the search in the morning.

Rick started up the truck and you all took off down the road in the opposite direction you had come.

You drove on, and on, and on...

Two hours passed,

The road was perfectly straight,

Until there was a sharp turn leading onto a dirt road.

Rick turned onto it and there was a big archway, big enough for a semi truck to get through. From the Archway hung a fancy well decorated sign that read in a bold font,

"Welcome to Woodbury"

Rick drove his somewhat rusty truck under it and stopped at two heavy wooden gates. He drove the truck slowly into the woods so that no one would notice it.

Once you were far enough from the gates that it would be hard to see the truck from them, Rick parked his truck and all four of you climbed out.

Quietly, you followed Rick and crept along the wooden gate once you reached it. Rick peered inside the cracks in the gate and motioned for you, Daryl and Andrea to come look.

You obeyed Ricks command and looked through the gate.

You were silent in amazement.

Behind the gate strived a thriving community of healthy, well-kept looking people. It was a little town with people walking about like the apocalypse hadn't ever happened. There were houses with lights on, civilized buildings.

You watched as people greeted each other as they walked on by.

You looked at Daryl who seemed to be staring into the town with the same intensity you had been.

Rick tapped Daryl on his shoulder and the four of you continued to creep along the fence.

Rick whispered to the group, "There has got to be another way in, somehow."

You continued and after a while you came to an empty place in front of the gate. You looked up to see people with weapons standing up on a barrier that stretched on for a length along the fence.

They had spotted your group and angled their weapons towards you.

Daryl and Rick raised their machine guns they had brought along for this trip and pointed them at the guards along the barrier.

You and Andrea pulled out your handguns and also aimed them at the guards. There was a standoff, waiting for someone on either side to make the first move.

You had them outnumbered, by one. Finally, someone from the guards group decided to start the gunfight. They fired at Daryl, but he quickly dodged the bullet by jumping to the side.

Your whole group ran and ducked behind a car, using it as a shield. You stood up and fired at one of the men along the barrier, the bullet embedded into his shoulder, knocking him backwards, causing him to fall off the barrier.

The gun fire from the opposing group pounded against the car but failed to touch any of your group members.

Rick looked over to a building not to far from the car. And motioned for all of you to follow him. You did so and ran inside the building through the front door. You looked out the window and noticed the men that had been on the barrier were climbing down. You assumed probably to get help.

Rick announced to the group, "Alright, now is our chance, we need to all climb over that barrier before cranky one, two and three of he's not dead get back. Let's go!"

The four of you charged out of the building you were in and ran straight at the barrier.

There were tires stacked against the gate loosely. Most likely for the guards to climb down if need be. The tires were stacked so carelessly, that one wrong move, and it would send all the tires rolling to the ground, providing no way up to the barrier from the outside.

You all skidded to a halt in front of the barrier and quickly but carefully climbed up the tires, over the fence to the top of the barrier and down the other side of the barrier before the guards returned.

You took cover inside a empty house and looked through the window at the surrounding town with wonder in silence. Daryl broke the silence by asking, "Do ya think Glenn and Maggie are here?"

Rick turned to Daryl, "Good chance."

Daryl nodded, accepting Ricks answer and continued to look out the window.

All four of you looked out the window until you heard a door open. All of you turned around to see a middle aged man walk in the door and look right at you.

He said threateningly, "Your the intruders! You can't be here, you killed one of our men. I've got to report you to the governor!"

Daryl moved so fast towards the man that he was almost a blur. He put him in a choke hold and forced him to his knees on the ground.

Rick ran over to Daryl's side and pulled his handgun out of his belt, holding it to his forehead, Rick questioned him, "We suspect your people are holding two of our group, a young Korean man and his girlfriend, do you know where they are?"l

The man shook his head, "No, but after what you did to Sarge out there, I hope they're both dead."

Rick looked into the mans cold, careless eyes and pulled the trigger of his gun, shooting the unhelpful man dead.

Daryl let the dead man fall to the floor and Daryl stood up to meet Ricks gaze, "We're found out about all over the place now, we need to get Glenn and Maggie if they're here and leave as fast as we can."

Rick nodded, "I agree, no one stray from the group, lets go!"

You and your companions quietly exited the house and crept along between other houses.

You heard absolute chaos coming from around the corner,

Screaming

Yelling

Fighting

You dared yourself and looked around the corner where the noise was coming from. You saw Glenn and Maggie fighting a group of people, but they didn't see you.

Before you had time to react, they were being dragged into a building.

You informed your search team of what you just saw and the four of you crouched by the buildings window that Glenn and Maggie were dragged into.

Daryl stood up and looked in the window, he informed the group, "They're putting potato sacks on their heads an aiming guns at them. We gotta get me outta there now."

You Rick and Andrea stood up and looked in the window for yourselves, sure enough, what Daryl said was true.

Rick instructed the group, "Okay, we bust through those doors like total bosses with guns raised, kill anyone from there group who gets in the way. Just be careful not to shoot one another or Glenn and Maggie. Understood?"

You, Daryl, and Andrea nodded at Ricks orders and you ran in a single file line to the front of the building. Daryl threw smoke bombs to make it harder for your enemies to see and fire at you. Once you were at the front of the building, Rick and Daryl approached the double doors, looked at each other and at the same time kicked the doors down and raised their machine guns to firing position in an instant. You and Andrea also drew your guns, ready to fire at any given moment.

The opposing group turned around quickly and raised their guns. Daryl and Rick shot them down quickly and easily.

After the opposing forces were taken care of, you, Daryl, Andrea and Rick ran over to Glenn and Maggie and took the potato sacks off their heads.

You and Andrea helped Maggie to her feet and led her out of the building while Daryl and Rick helped Glenn to his feet and led him out of the building.

You ran and ran, trying to get out of Woodbury as fast as possible.

The opposing forces were gaining on you and since Glenn could run fine by himself, Rick and Daryl stayed back to hold the Woodbury group off.

You, Glenn, Andrea and Maggie all ran back to the first building you were in at Woodbury because that is where you had agreed to meet if anyone got separated.

You entered the building and after about five minutes, Rick came in through the door... by himself.

You looked questioningly at Rick, "Where's Daryl?"

Rick looked down at the ground, avoiding looking at you, "... We got separated and... they took him."

Rage filled in your eyes as you looked at Rick you slowly raised your gun, "You better pray we get him back."

Rick slowly raised his hands in the air as surrender, "Megan, I know your upset, I know how much Daryl means to you. Please though, understand that it wasn't my fault he got taken, there was so much chaos and now everyone is aware of the trouble we can cause, we have to be extra careful, going back outside to look for Daryl... Understood?"

You glared at Rick and retorted, "Is it understood that now that we are living in an apocalypse Daryl is my world? Is it clear that I don't care what I have to do or what I have to risk, I am getting him back no matter what... Even if it costs me my life?"

Rick let his hands rest at his sides as he nodded, "I do understand that Megan but we have to be rational here, we can't just go out there not knowing what we're doing."

You looked intently into the cops eyes and said coldly, "I know what I'm doing."

You walked out of the building and even though, everyone called out to you for you to come back. You didn't look back once and kept walking.

You had to find out where Daryl was, your life didn't matter without him in it.

You pulled out your gun and quietly approached some of the Woodbury guards from behind. There were five of them and before they had time to react, you shot three of them in the head.

The other two turned to you and as you were about to fire, you realized you were out of bullets. You swore under your breath and as the two remaining guards approached you, you punched one in the face knocking him back.

While you were distracted by the one guard though, the other went behind you putting you in a chokehold. Then the one that you punched came up behind you and tied your hands together with a rope.

You struggled against the rope but it was no good, the guards were holding you by your arms. They pushed you and led you around until you came to a big building, shaped like an arena.

You struggled against the men even more but they had a firm hold on you. They pushed the doors open and dragged you inside.

You looked around the inside of the building, it was an arena. A fighting arena. It the center of the building was a huge concrete slab that had a more rough pattern to it it was in a circular shape.

You realized, on that concrete circle is where the fighters would fight at. You looked to the walls and noticed rows upon rows of bleachers packed full of people shouting. You couldn't make out what they were saying but it didn't sound friendly.

You looked back to the ring and saw a man with a patch over his right eye standing in the center, addressing the crowd.

He announced to them, "Even me, your own Governor am scared of these terrorists. They killed many of our people. So when we find them, and capture them all, what do we do?"

The crowd shouted aggressively at the Governor, "Kill them! Beat them! Kill them!"

The governor looked into the crowd as he listened, he nodded his head, "Alright, a decision has been made, there will be a fight to the death for the man we have in our custody."

You watched in horror as some of the guards brought out a man with a potato sack on his head. He was flailing trying to get away from the guards but they didn't let up their harsh grip.

The governor walked calmly up to Daryl and pulled the sack off his head. Daryl looked at the governor in rage and you could tell that if he could get away from the guards, the governor would be dead.

The Governor pointed at Daryl who had finally stopped struggling against the guards in undeniable defeat. The governor tried to turn the crowd even more against Daryl as he said, "This is one of the intruders who raided our town and killed many of our people. We offered him the chance to surrender but he turned it down. He will now be faced with death."

A tall, thick, muscular man walked into the ring, head held high in confidence. The man was about 6'5 he had a deep tan and dark brown eyes. He had thick black hair that was just a bit longer than a buzz cut.

You forgot to breathe for a few seconds in shock, the man, was your father. Yes, your father, the man, who left you behind to die.

The guards dragged you forwards to the side of the arena. You were behind a couple rows of people but you could still see what was going on.

The Governor grabbed your dads hand and raised his arm declaring, "Our champion, Mr. Moon!"

The governor dropped your dads hand and turned his attention to Daryl. He roughly grabbed Daryl's shirt and pulled him into the center of the ring for him to stand in front of your dad. He then said, "against the terrorist, Daryl Dixon!"

The governor stood between the men and turned his attention to the crowd, "They will battle to the death!"

The crowd started roaring with excitement.

You struggled against the guards but they held onto you firmly. In your desperate attempt to save Daryl, you screamed over the crowd, "No! Don't kill him!"

You struggled against the guards with all your might and managed to break free. You ran as fast as you could and ran into the center of the ring. The crowd and Governor stared at you with contempt in their eyes as you stalled their event.

The guards ran at you and grabbed you by your arms again, attempting to pull you back into the crowd. You yelled as the guards restrained you, "I love you Daryl! I'll get you out of this!"

Daryl turned towards you and when he wasn't paying attention, your dad clocked him right in his jaw, leaving a bloody cut on his jaw.

A few tears escaped from your eyes as you saw Daryl stumble backwards. It was all your fault, so you thought.

Your dad also looked over at you, a careless expression on his face as he stared at you. You stared right back and your dad taunted you.

He made a little heart with his hands and pointed to Daryl. He was asking if you loved Daryl.

You gave your dad a hopeful pleading look to spare Daryl's life. You also nodded at your father signaling to him that you love Daryl.

Your dad smirked at you and slid his fingers gently across his own neck, then he pointed at Daryl. Your own dad had just signaled you that he was going to kill the man you love.

Daryl got up off the ground, recovering from your dads punch to his jaw. Daryl looked straight at you, determination in his eyes. Daryl had only been on the ground for a split second before getting back on his feet but it was still long enough for you and your dad to have communicated as you did.

You hated your father, he had left you to die, now he was trying to kill the man of your dreams.

You struggled against the ropes that were tying your hands together without the guards noticing. You had to do something.

Daryl walked up to your dad, acting calm, just as your dad let his guard down, a tiny bit, Daryl moved so fast it was kind of unbelievable.

He punched your dad in the stomach and as your dad bent over in pain, Daryl punched him in his temple.

Your dad let out a squeal of pain and collapsed to the ground.

Daryl walked over to him and yelled tauntingly at him, "Git up! Are ya giving up already? I'm just getting started!"

You continued to mess with the ropes tying your hands together, the ropes were getting looser and looser. You could almost slip your hands out of the rope. Almost.

Your dad struggled weakly to his feet but Daryl was right there and put your dad straight into a chokehold. With a single motion, Daryl moved his arms up quickly on your dads neck. There was a sickening cracking sound as your dads neck broke and Daryl let him fall lifelessly to the ground.

The governor called time on the fight and walked over to your father. The governor bent down and put his fingers to your dads neck, checking for a pulse. The governor shook his head after a moment and stood up straight again, facing the crowd, he announced with a cold tone, "Our champion, , is dead."

There was a hushed silence in the crowd as all the citizens took in the news.

The governor took his gun out and shot your dads dead form in the head, preventing him from turning into a zombie.

Then the governor looked coldly at Daryl and back to the crowd. He announced, "Daryl Dixon will be executed right on this spot now just like anyone else who kills one of our people."

You watched nervously as some guards rushed out and grabbed Daryl. Daryl tried to fight against them but it was no use. The guards grabbed Daryl and forced him to the center of the ring.

Another guard brought out a chair and Daryl was forced to sit in it. After they had Daryl sitting in the chair, they tied him down so that he couldn't escape.

Fear engulfed you as you realized you might not be able to save Daryl.

The guards walked away from Daryl once he was securely tied down.

More guards went out and dragged your fathers body out of the arena and placed it in a body bag then carried it off.

The governor and Daryl were now the only two in the center of the arena.

You kept messing with the ropes restraining your hands until finally, the ropes loosened and fell to the ground. Before the guards could react, you yanked yourself from their grasps and made your way through the crowd.

The governor held the gun to Daryl's head as he said, "If only he would have surrendered..."

You met Daryl's for once, scared blue gaze. You signaled for him to be quiet. Then you slowly pulled your knife out of your belt loop. You smiled to yourself, the guards hadn't noticed your knife.

You looked intently at the governor and then as fast as you could, you ran at the governor. You held your knife straight out and before the governor or anyone had time to react, you stuck your knife right through the governors skull.

The governor let out a deathly sound and dropped his gun. Then the governor fell lifelessly to the ground. You took your knife out from his head and as you did, you said to him, "If only you hadn't threatened my boyfriend."


End file.
